CCIA President on Intel's Abusive Behavior - Part 3

Computer Chip Monopoly

Intel has been embroiled in antitrust controversies since the 1980s. Most recently, the company has engaged in a series of increasingly aggressive and legally suspect acts designed to disadvantage AMD, its sole remaining competitor in the marketplace for “x86-based” microprocessors—computer chips that power the vast majority of PCs, laptops and servers. Accordingly, AMD has lodged complaints in the U.S. Court for the District of Delaware, with the Federal Trade Commission, the Japanese Fair Trade Commission, and competition authorities in Korea and the European Union. Each complaint differs in the details, but all concentrate on a pattern of practice that is anticompetitive and illegal. In response to those complaints, Japanese, Korean and European authorities have investigated AMD's claims and ruled against Intel. In the U.S., both the Attorney General of New York and the FTC have opened up formal investigations of Intel.

CCIA is encouraged by regulators’ increased scrutiny of Intel’s actions internationally, and hopes that the U.S. authorities will continue their investigation to show their commitment to the importance of competition in this critical sector.