Virtual Whistler

Pani worked as a design engineer at Intel's Hudson, Mass., chipmaking plant when he was hired by AMD in June. Pani, however, didn't tell his Intel supervisors that he was resigning to join the competitor, and remained on Intel's payroll while he burned unused vacation time, The Associated Press reported. During a four-day stretch, Pani allegedly downloaded from Intel's computers in California more than a dozen confidential documents.

The information allegedly stolen from Intel included details about the company's processes for designing its latest generation of microprocessors, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported. The indictment alleges the documents were worth $1 billion in research and development costs.

Federal prosecutors say Pani planned to use the information at his new job at AMD, the newspaper reported. Pani, however, told investigators that the documents were for his wife, who is an Intel employee. AMD did not know about Pani's alleged theft and did not benefit from the information, prosecutors said.

Pani's lawyer, B. Bradford Bailey of Boston, told the Worcester Telegram that the indictment was not a surprise. "We knew it was coming. We will enter a plea of not guilty when an arraignment date is set, and he will vigorously contest the charges because he is innocent," the lawyer said.

In the third quarter, Intel accounted for 80% of the worldwide market for microprocessors and AMD 12%. Competition between the two companies is fierce, and design information is a closely guarded secret.