According to the AP (via the Washington Post):

EU regulators said Friday they have charged Intel Corp. with monopoly abuse for blocking rival computer chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices Inc.’s access to customers. Intel immediately said its conduct had been lawful and said it welcomed the chance to finally respond to allegations made by its main competitor. The European Commission claimed that Intel gave “substantial rebates” to computer makers for buying most of their x86 computer processing units, or CPUs, from Intel; that it made payments to manufacturers to get them to delay or cancel product lines using AMD chips; and that it sold its own chips below cost on average to strategic server customers on bids against AMD products to try to muscle into that business. It said each of these alone broke EU law by shutting out AMD from the market. Together they amounted to a strategy that damaged the rules of fair play in an effort to keep AMD from eroding Intel’s market leadership, it said. The Commission also considers at this stage of its analysis that the three types of conduct reinforce each other and are part of a single overall anticompetitive strategy,” it said.

Intel has released a statement from Bruce Sewell, Intel’s senior vice president and general counsel:

We are confident that the microprocessor market segment is functioning normally and that Intel’s conduct has been lawful, pro-competitive, and beneficial to consumers. While we would certainly have preferred to avoid the cost and inconvenience of establishing that our competitive conduct in Europe has been lawful, the Commission’s decision to issue a Statement of Objections means that at last Intel will have the opportunity to hear and respond to the allegations made by our primary competitor. The case is based on complaints from a direct competitor rather than customers or consumers. The Commission has an obligation to investigate those complaints. However, a Statement of Objections contains only preliminary allegations and does not itself amount to a finding that there has been a violation of European Union law. Intel will now be given the chance to respond directly to the Commission’s concerns as part of the administrative process. The evidence that this industry is fiercely competitive and working is compelling. When competitors perform and execute the market rewards them. When they falter and under-perform the market responds accordingly.

Comment feed: RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.