Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) has filed an antitrust complaint against Intel Corp., the company announced today.
The 48-page complaint, which was filed in U.S. federal district court Monday, claims Intel has maintained its monopoly in the x86 microprocessor market by coercing customers not to deal with AMD.
The filing identifies 38 companies -- including large-scale computer makers, small system builders, wholesale distributors and retailers -- that have been forced to ban AMD through such illegal conduits as Intel-exclusive deals in return for outright cash payments. Dell, Sony, Toshiba, Gateway and Hitachi are among the heavy hitters that have been victims of Intel's coercion, AMD alleges.
Other illegal channels Intel has sought, as claimed by AMD and highlighted in the complaint, include: withholding rebates and marketing subsidies as a means of punishing customers who buy more than prescribed quantities of processors from AMD; threatening retaliation against customers doing business with AMD; establishing quotas, thus keeping retailers from selling the computers they want; and forcing PC makers to boycott AMD product launches.
"Everywhere in the world, customers deserve freedom of choice and the benefits of innovation -- and these are being stolen away in the microprocessor market," Hector Ruiz, AMD chairman, president and CEO, said in a statement. "Whether through higher prices from monopoly profits, fewer choices in the marketplace or barriers to innovation -- people from Osaka to Frankfurt to Chicago pay the price in cash every day for Intel's monopoly abuses."
x86 microprocessors run the Microsoft Windows, Solaris and Linux families of operating systems. And Apple is not far behind: the PC pioneer plans to switch exclusively to x86 processors to run Mac OS software beginning in 2006, according to AMD. Intel's share of this critical market currently counts for about 80 percent of worldwide sales by unit volume and 90 percent by revenue, giving it entrenched monopoly ownership and super-dominant market power, AMD contends.
Article continues belowThis litigation comes on the heels of a recent ruling from the Fair Trade Commission of Japan (JFTC), which found that Intel abused its monopoly power to exclude fair and open competition. These findings reveal that Intel deliberately engaged in illegal business practices to stop AMD's increasing market share by imposing limitations on Japanese PC manufacturers. Intel did not contest these charges.
The European Commission has stated that it is pursuing an investigation against Intel for similar possible antitrust violations and is cooperating with the Japanese authorities.
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