Intel Corp, the world's biggest chipmaker, said it is under investigation by Japan's Fair Trade Commission, six weeks after the regulator raided Microsoft Corp offices seeking evidence of anti-competitive activities.
"We are cooperating fully with their investigation," said Tom Beerman, a spokesman for Santa Clara, California-based Intel.
He declined to comment on the reason for the probe. Officials visited Intel's Tokyo headquarters to investigate whether its microprocessor sales practices breached competition rules, said an official, who declined to be identified.
Microsoft's software and Intel's processor chips are used in more than 80 percent of personal computers sold globally. Intel is expanding sales of chips for the consumer electronics and communications markets, increasing its rivalry with Japanese companies such as Sony Corp and Renesas Technology Corp.
"Intel has never forced us to use only their chips," said Midori Suzuki, a spokeswoman for Toshiba Corp, Japan's biggest maker of notebook computers. "We have good relations with Intel."
In February, the Japanese trade commission was investigating a provision in Microsoft's licensing terms which stipulates that computer and device makers that license Microsoft's Windows XP and CE programs and related patents won't later sue Microsoft or each other claiming that Windows violates their patents, Microsoft said in a statement.
Intel faces government challenges elsewhere in Asia.
Intel chief executive officer Craig Barrett travels to China this week, where he may discuss the government's decision to force makers of wireless networking chips to include a domestic security standard. The demand affects Intel's Centrino wireless networking technology.
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