SAN JOSE, Calif. — Escalating the world’s largest computer chip maker’s legal woes, the Federal Trade Commission has opened a formal probe into Intel Corp.’s sales tactics, a victory for its much smaller rival, Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
Intel disclosed Friday that it has received a subpoena from the FTC for records about Intel’s microprocessor sales, which dominate the world market with a roughly 80 percent share.
The FTC’s two-year investigation had been considered “informal” until that point, and Intel, which is already fighting antitrust charges in the European Union and was fined this week by antitrust regulators in South Korea, said it had been cooperating.
By opening a formal investigation, Intel said, the FTC can access documents revealing Intel’s communications with certain customers — documents Intel couldn’t voluntarily provide because of a protective order that is part of a sweeping antitrust lawsuit AMD filed in 2005 that isn’t expected to go to trial until 2010.
“From our perspective, it’s not a surprising event nor is there any really substantive change in the relationship we’ve had with the FTC,” said Bruce Sewell, Intel’s general counsel.
The FTC’s intensifying look at Intel’s business practices is a result of AMD’s long-running campaign to convince antitrust regulators around the world that its business has been hurt by Intel’s aggressive tactics. AMD also said Friday that it received a subpoena this week from the FTC — though the company said it is not a target of the investigation.
The two companies have been fighting for years over what AMD claims is Intel’s intimidation of computer makers into striking exclusive deals for the chips they use in their new machines.
AMD claims the rebates and financial incentives Intel offers to those companies for buying more Intel chips are designed to prevent AMD from gaining market share — and that Intel threatens those manufacturers that it will retaliate if they introduce models based on AMD’s chips.
AMD argues that Intel’s volume discounts are sometimes so steep that AMD can’t cut its own prices enough to compete without losing money on sales.
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