EU Officials Raid Intel Offices

Eukariote writes "As part of the ongoing antitrust investigations, EU officials have raided Intel offices as well as offices of a number of IT firms manufacturing or selling computers. This follows the recent ruling by Japan's Fair Trade Commission declaring Intel's exclusionary practices illegal as well as the lawsuit filed by AMD."

Comments

More Info

[starrsoft]

Here's my story submission, which provides some more info, that didn't make the cut:

starrsoft writes, "Apparently AMD's lawsuit isn't just just a PR stunt, as some have suggested. In related news to today's earlier story about AMD's claims concerning Intel compilers discriminating against AMD, EU regulators raided several of Intel's European offices regarding 'an ongoing competition case.' From the article: 'European antitrust regulators raided Intel Corp. offices Tuesday, two weeks after rival U.S. chip-maker Advanced Micro Devices filed a lawsuit claiming Intel used its market dominance to bully computer makers away from using AMD chips... For more than four years, the EU has been investigating claims that Intel used unfair business practices to persuade clients to buy its microprocessors to the exclusion of rivals' chips.In March, the bloc said it was continuing its probe after a Japanese investigation found that Intel had violated antitrust rules there. The EU cooperated with the Japanese regulators.'

Re:More Info

[Vodak]

I believe that since Intel has been marketing many different processor types and technologies from Pentium 4, to Hyper Threading, to Centrino the marketing of "Intel Inside" has lost alot of it's luster.

As such it is my belief that the current way general consumers look at processors are simply price driven and to hell with preformance.. be it AMD, Intel, or anyone else for that matter.

We are in the world of 299 PCs... The new game systems will cost more then a end user PC platform.

Compilers

[mfloy]

I wonder if they are going to pick up a copy of the source for the compilers. That could be a nice boost for AMD's claims.

Re:Compilers

[Trigun]

Lets just hope they do to it what the lawyers did to CSS, and put it in public record. That'll learn'em!

I Want Intel Punished as a Monopoly!

[Nom du Keyboard]

As I said in another thread that was not as sharply focused on this issue as this one: I would like to see Intel decleared -- and punished -- as a monopoly.

Why? Because I think it would result in lower prices to me. While regulated monopolies (phone, electric, gas, etc.) may be necessary in order to only build a single service infrastructure, I have yet to see a market monopoly declare: Now that we've eliminated the competition, let's lower prices and improve our service!

Different code being generated. Did they really think someone wouldn't figure this out?

Re:Give the money back to the consumers, not AMD!

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, the U.S. could sue Intel, and then the money would be going back to consumers in a way.

Of course, that'd be asking the AG of a big-business friendly administration to sue a very large corporation for something they call the "free market." (Free as in, the bigger the corporation the more free it is for you and the less free it is for everyone else)

Apple deal

[Stevix]

I wonder how this lawsuit will affect Apple's decision do use Intel Chips? True, a case like this could stretch for years, but developing and integrating new chips into your product line could do the same. If Intel actually recieves a relevant anti-trust court decision, or greater, gets broken up, would this be better for apple (perhaps buy up the company) or might any instability hinder Apple's decision to use Intel?

An old rumor

[Anonymous Coward]

Back in '98, a friend of mine was an intern for
a summer at Intel. He described a curious
practice. They would evidently hold practice
raids on employees. The legal staff would ask
the employee to drop what they were working on,
and step outside. The legal staff would rifle
through the office, looking for anything that
would help an antitrust suit. (E.g., even
memos that said "We dominate the chip fab
market...") They would then confiscate and
edit the documents that looked like they would
help an opponent in a suit. (E.g., rewrite to
"We are competitive in the chip fag market...")

So, I think the EU Intel offices are well
prepared for this raid.

Is all x86 created equal?...

[parvenu74]

...or can Intel's x86 chips take advantage of compiler tricks that are not baked into the output for AMD processors because Intel would not be privey to what AMD is up to inside their processors?

And is there not an AMD x86 compiler set -- and if not, whose fault is that? This sounds like sour grapes to me.

Re:I can't believe Americans are supporting this

[Chris Burke]

Yes, and please don't consider the jobs of those working at companies that buy Intel parts. It's okay for an American company to gouge people because it's good for Americans, even if Americans are the one being gouged. That makes tons of sense.

Microsoft tax next?

[Teun]

In July last year the JFTC took similar action against Microsoft, calling for changes to contracts it makes with PC manufacturers.

European regulators are also looking at Intel, following complaints from AMD. ®

And now we need someone to take AMD's example to tackle the Microsoft tax.

Intel had it coming

[Roliverio]

Well.. we all see where this leads..

If indeed intel made such practices then their arse is on the line, not necessarily a Anti-trust case similar as was with M$ (coz' the case brought up elsewhere than the US), obviously intel is gonna suffer with a non favorable ruling.

I think the source code for icc is not needed as many of you already now that when using it on a AMD processor you need to pass the option to, let's say, "skip microprocessor detection".

I'll like to see intel making good products and really competing , and, believe me, i don't like intel, but AMD is far beyond them right now, and if intel steps a lot behind (be it for any reason whatsoever), AMD will still make good products and maybe slow down innovation, and thats not good for either side.

Maybe im totally wrong, who knows?, but AFAIK it's evident that intel will need to address their marketing (And PR) practices, coz' they have the money to really make good products, and really compete the right way.

On a side note, i would like to see a ad where the blue man group get's smashed with a building scaffolding with some buckets of green paint on it. :D

GCC?

[bhima]

This has me wondering How Much does AMD contribute to GCC?

Obviously expecting there main competitor to build their main complier is a flawed concept...