Intel is accused by the European Commission of abusing its
dominant position in the microchip market in order to exclude rival
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). It has been under investigation since
2001 and was formally charged in July last year.
The company's offices in the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain were
raided in 2005 as part of the investigation. Last month the state
of New York also announced an antitrust investigation into the
company's behaviour.
"The European Commission can confirm that on 12th February 2008,
Commission officials carried out unannounced inspections at the
premises of a manufacturer of Central Processing Units (CPUs) and a
number of personal computer (PC) retailers," said a Commission
statement. Intel and German retailer Media Market both admitted
that they were amongst the companies that were raided.
"The Commission has reason to believe that the companies
concerned may have violated EC Treaty rules on restrictive business
practices (Article 81) and/or abuse of a dominant market position
(Article 82)," said the Commission statement. "The Commission
officials were accompanied by their counterparts from the relevant
national competition authorities.
The Commission has accused Intel of offering discounts to
computer makers who only use its chips, of paying manufacturers to
delay or cancel products containing AMD chips and of selling chips
below cost in servers. It said the company had "an overall
anti-competitive strategy".
Intel will face a hearing on those charges in the middle of
March and the Commission itself will rule on whether the charges
are valid or not, though that decision can be appealed through the
courts.
Intel said last year that it rejected the accusations. "The case
is based on complaints from a direct competitor rather than
customers or consumers," Intel's general counsel Bruce Sewell told
news agency Reuters. "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."
The European Commission won a major antitrust victory over
Microsoft last year when the Court of First Instance ruling backed
its 2004 judgment fining the company €497 million for
anticompetitive practices. In January the Commission launched a new
case against the software giant.
