Intel has had countless opportunities over the last two decades to twist a knife in AMD's heart if it was so inclined. But AMD is Intel's never fail get-of-out-monopoly- charges-free card.
I'd be interested to hear a few these opportunities you see Intel as having passed up. It's not that I disagree; I suppose Intel has the money to hand out processors for free for a couple of quarters if they wanted too. I don't see, though, that they could do it without damaging their interests in the long term as such tactics would increase pricing pressure even with AMD out of the way.