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AMD Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Intel
jonathan_ingram writes "As reported on GrokLaw, AMD has just filed an antitrust lawsuit against Intel. AMD states in its press release that the complaint details "... how Intel has unlawfully maintained its monopoly in the x86 microprocessor market by engaging in worldwide coercion of customers from dealing with AMD. It identifies 38 companies that have been victims of coercion by Intel - including large scale computer-makers, small system-builders, wholesale distributors, and retailers, through seven types of illegality across three continents.""
When AMD succeeded in getting on the HP retail roadmap for mobile computers, and its products sold well, Intel responded by withholding HP's fourth quarter 2004 rebate check and refusing to waive HP's failure to achieve its targeted rebate goal; it allowed HP to make up the shortfall in succeeding quarters by promising Intel at least 90% of HP's mainstream retail business.
*Threatening retaliation against customers for introducing AMD computer platforms, particularly in strategic market segments such as commercial desktop;
*Then-Compaq CEO Michael Capellas said in 2000 that because of the volume of business given to AMD, Intel withheld delivery of critical server chips. Saying "he had a gun to his head," he told AMD he had to stop buying.
That sounds pretty damning.
Your sig(k) has been stolen. There is a puff of smoke!
It's amazing how much dirt AMD has on intel if you read their suit document. I think it's safe to say that the only way intel will win this one is if they pay off the judge...which given their history they just might try... ;-P This has been a long time coming and it's definatley about dang time...
If users want AMD and suppliers only deliver Intel, then something is clearly wrong.
This is your sig. There are thousands more, but this one is yours.
Here is a list of specific allegations:
Insert Generic Sig Here:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technolog y/2003-09-16-intel_x.htm
AMD made most of the same charges in 2001 and the FTC dropped it in 2003.
Which part of your ass did you pull those numbers from?
According to IDC, AMD has only 10% of the CPU market.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=19972
Actually, most of their bragging rights sit with the Pentium M, built on the PIII architecture. Toms has a great article about it. It beats the Athlon 64 FX and the PIV Extreme Edition. That ain't shabby.
Excuse my speling.
Making The Bar Project
1) No laptops are homebuilt.
2) Virtually no business computers are homebuilt. (Yes, I know there are exceptions -- please, you don't have to tell me about yours.)
3) Even if we're limiting the discussion to consumer desktops, I would be astonished if homebuilts exceed 1%, your friends notwithstanding.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
First, this is a civil suit -- there is no need for proof beyond reasonable doubt.
That said, the fact that the legal system requires a level of evidence above that required for Slashbots to "know" something is a good thing.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
How many of those AMD systems were overclocked? If you're living in a house of geeks with a dozen homebuilt systems, I can guarantee more than a few will be overclocked. And we all know that it's easier to overclock AMD chips than Intel.
I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
I think you are misinformed. Intel did patent the 8088 design. They were required by IBM to license it to a second source. AMD were founded, basically, to be this second source. Later on, AMD designs were clean-room implementations based solely on the published instruction set, not on the Intel designs.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
No, I'm saying they don't even have to compete. As another poster pointed out, Intel's only real shining area is the laptop processor market, where they handedly beat the AMD equivalent.
In pretty much every other area, AMD processors that would normally be in competition with Intel processors, simply aren't, not because they dont' want them to be, but because they are priced at half the cost of the Intel chips.
For example, let's use Pricewatch:
$170 - Pentium 4 3.0GHz 800MHz
$94 - Athlon XP 3000
170/94 = 1.8
The Pentium 4 equivalent to the XP 3000 is 1.8 times the cost. Now, let's get crazy:
$320 - Pentium 4 650 3.4GHz LGA775
$162 - Athlon 64 3400
320/162 = 1.97
The Pentium 4 equivalent to the Athlon 64-bit is 1.97 times the cost.
I mean, sure, an argument can be made regarding speed of these processors actually matching or actually being "comparative", but christ, when you're spending HALF the price, you can go up another notch or two to increase your processor speed on the AMD end and still EASILY be spending less than you would on an Intel processor.
Remember, Pentium M was far and away Apple's primary consideration. Even with the failure to hit 3GHz, the G5 is still a good CPU. However, Mac laptops have been stuck with the same old crappy-bus G4s for a long Long LONG time, and they're the majority of Apple's sales.
That's the same as the 'cash discount' prices at computer retailers. Mastercard/Visa will remove your right to accept cards if you try to pass the 2% charge that vendors pay for accepting the credit cards on to the consumer. So shops came up with the 2% cash discount crap. Stupid wording... exact same result... But as a consumer it's such a pain in the ass to get them to change the price... with enough complaining and threatening to contact mastercard/visa, I usually succeed, but it's such a waste of time for something that is clearly not allowed.
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Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
Notice this: It's the PX code that should be dispatched on all non-Intel processor-based systems in the current IPP 4.* versions.
In other words, the PX is the non-optimized code that the dispatcher executes on non-Intel (AMD) processors.
"Before this, the auto companies had penalized dealers that sold other brands, and dealers in rural areas that moved smaller quantities of merchandise."
Manufacturers get around this by offering a volume incentive to dealers. Yeah they technically sell all the dealerships the car for the same price, but if dealer X moves 1000 units they get 2% back in volume discount, while dealer Y moved 10000 units and got 4% back. If such laws were put in place, what is to stop Intel (or AMD) from doing the same thing? Either way, this doesn't really address the bullying/extortion thing.
You can't compare Intel to DeBeers (who won't put an office in the US cause they know the second they do, their ass is gone)
Their first retail store in the United States opened on June 23, 2005, though the opening was picketed by protesters from Survival International, who claimed a link between the mining of diamonds and the genocide of Gana and Gwi bushmen by the Botswana government. Gloria Steinem was at the forefront of the protests, urging American consumers to boycott the store
I'm sorry, but you are comparing an overclocked processor to a standard processor. If you compare them at available warranty-covered speeds, then the Pentium M falls way behind. While it is a very impressive chip for what it does, it is not available at 2.5GHz.
The article at Tom's compares an overclocked Pentium M to Athlon 64 FX and the PIV Extreme Edition running at standard clock speed. Tom's also uses an Athlon 64 FX with the now-obsolete Clawhammer chip in 130nm, which makes AMD look bad in the power dissipation test.
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In other news, LostCircuits has successfully overclocked a Venice core-based Athlon64-3800+
http://www.lostcircuits.com/cpu/amd_venice/
These results look impressive too, and I don't think AMD is beaten yet.
C - the footgun of programming languages
According to their stock charts, they are:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=AMD
They made 1.97 Billion in gross profit last year. with a net income of 28.64 Million. Their last quarter doesn't look too good, but most companies have strong and weak quarters in a year.
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Better chip in what way? AMD has basically held the IPC crown since the K7 came out. Now with the AMD64's they not only hold the IPC crown [very firmly] but the power-efficiency crown.
Are you talking about cost? AMD chips costs less.
I'm sure if you went out and signed a multi-billion dollar with AMD they'd consider a new fabs [e.g. think if Dell+Compaq+Sony for instance all went to AMD for the next set of desktops/laptops].
Intel is no way the leader in efficient and powerful processor design anymore.
Put it this way, my AMDx2 4200+ [which I bought on the weekend] is idling now at around 29C in a 21C room. That's two cores at 2.2Ghz.
Intel at it's best with the P4 can't even come close to that. Under full load my X2 hits around 45C with both cores going. The intel single core chips routinely hit 50-55C at full load.
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.