FTC Probes Intel
June 10, 2008
The US Federal Trade Commission has opened a formal antitrust investigation into Intel’s business practices and its position in the $31bn computer-processor market, where it currently has 80% market share.
Intel claimed its practices are well within US laws. The company is also facing tough scrutiny from regulators in Europe and Asia. Last week, South Korea’s antitrust watchdog fined Intel $25m for abusing its dominant market position to discourage customers from defecting to AMD.
In addition, Intel was accused by the European Commission in July 2007 of abusing its dominance, and AMD filed a private lawsuit in Delaware in 2005 accusing it of making payments to computer makers in order to discourage them from buying AMD chips.