European regulators charged that US chipmaker Intel used coercion and bribery to unfairly gain market advantage in Europe late on Thursday.
The European Commission said that it had sent another so-called “statement of objections” to Intel alleging it has tried to exclude its leading competitor, Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD), from the x86 central processing unit (CPU) market.
The action follows a similar warning sent to the company in July last year.
Without naming other companies involved, regulators said in a statement they had reached a “preliminary conclusion” that Intel has engaged in another three types of “abusive conduct.”
The commission said Intel had provided “substantial rebates to a leading European personal computer retailer” to sell only Intel-based PCs. It had paid bribes to a manufacturer to delay the launch of a product using AMD products and also paid “substantial rebates” to the same company conditional on its buying all of its CPU units from California-based Intel.
The European Commission gave Intel eight weeks to reply and attend an oral hearing, and reserved the right to levy fines. It said each charge in and of itself was serious, but taken together they “reinforce each other and are part of a single overall anti-competitive strategy aimed at excluding AMD or limiting its access to the market.”
Intel said it was disappointed by the new charges, adding it believed the commission supported AMD’s position. It said it has always conducted itself legally and with a sense of fair competition.
Intel said the rebates gave lower prices to consumers and it was convinced it could rebut the Commission’s charges as unfounded.
Separately, AMD replaced its chief executive Hector Ruiz on Thursday, appointing its president and chief operating officer Dirk Meyer in his place.
The move was announced as AMD, which has struggled in recent years to compete with sector leader Intel, reported a loss of US$1.2 billion on the quarter. AMD’s revenue rose to US$1.35 billion from US$1.31 billion, but it was short of the US$1.45 billion expected by Wall Street.
AMD shares were down US$0.20, or 3.8 percent, to US$5.10 in after-hours trading. AMD’s stock was above US$40 as recently as 2006 and the resulting fall has vaporized US$20 billion in shareholder wealth.
Ruiz, 62, had been chief executive since 2002 and will continue to serve as executive chairman, focusing on a previously announced plan to develop a new manufacturing strategy that is expected to reduce costs. Ruiz had been one of the few Hispanic chief executive’s of a top US company.
Under his tenure, AMD rose to present its greatest challenge to Intel when it launched the Opteron line of chips in 2003. But delays in introducing the chip’s successors and a bad US$5.6 billion purchase of graphics chip maker ATI Technologies hit the company’s cash flow and profits, forcing it to sell an 8.1 percent stake to the Abu Dhabi government’s investment arm last November.
The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) is to tighten rules for candidates running for public office, requiring them to declare that they do not hold a Chinese household registration or passport, and that they possess no other foreign citizenship. The requirement was set out in a draft amendment to the Enforcement Rules of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法 ) released by the ministry on Thursday. Under the proposal, candidates would need to make the declaration when submitting their registration forms, which would be published in the official election bulletin. The move follows the removal of several elected officials who were
FOUR DESIGNATED AREAS: Notices were issued for live-fire exercises in waters south and northwest of Penghu, northeast of Keelung and west of Kaohsiung, they said The military is planning three major annual exercises across the army, navy and air force this month, with the navy’s “Hai Chiang” (海強, “Sea Strong”) drills running from today through Thursday, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The Hai Chiang exercise, which is to take place in waters surrounding Taiwan, would feature P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft and S-70C anti-submarine helicopters, the ministry said, adding that the drills aim to bolster the nation’s offshore defensive capabilities. China has intensified military and psychological pressure against Taiwan, repeatedly sending warplanes and vessels into areas near the nation’s air defense identification zone and across
SENATE RECOMMENDATION: The National Defense Authorization Act encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s navy to participate in the exercises in Hawaii The US Senate on Thursday last week passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026, which strongly encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s naval forces to participate in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise, as well as allocating military aid of US$1 billion for Taiwan. The bill, which authorizes appropriations for the military activities of the US Department of Defense, military construction and other purposes, passed with 77 votes in support and 20 against. While the NDAA authorizes about US$925 billion of defense spending, the Central News Agency yesterday reported that an aide of US
NATIONAL DAY: The ‘Taiwan Dome’ would form the centerpiece of new efforts to bolster air defense and be modeled after Israel’s ‘Iron Dome,’ sources said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday pledged to strengthen the nation’s air defense capabilities and build a “T-Dome” system to create a safety net against growing military threats from China. “We will accelerate our building of the T-Dome, establish a rigorous air defense system in Taiwan with multi-layered defense, high-level detection and effective interception, and weave a safety net for Taiwan to protect the lives and property of citizens,” he said in his National Day address. In his keynote address marking the Republic of China’s (ROC) 114th anniversary, Lai said the lessons of World War II have taught nations worldwide “to ensure that
RSS