AMD: The 'Guts of This Case' Against Intel are Intact
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Making the most of the single avenue of exploration US Federal District Judge Joseph A. Farnan left open last September, AMD is proceeding in its antitrust suit against Intel by arguing that nothing in the judge's most recent order explicitly prevents it from discovering evidence of misconduct.
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(InfoWorld) - European Commission antitrust officials investigating computer chip maker Intel presented what they believe is a watertight argument for prosecuting the firm to an internal panel of so-called devil's advocates on Tuesday, a person familiar with the investigation has said. Holding their case up to the scrutiny of the panel may indicate that the officials on the case are confident enough to push ahead with legal action. The panel was recently introduced into the antitrust investigation process in order to prevent poorly prepared cases turning into formal legal proceedings. Intel has been under investigation by the commission for the past five years. With a global market share in the computer chip market of around 80 percent, the company dwarfs its nearest rival, Advanced Micro Devices Inc., which accounts for the bulk of the remaining sales of chips around the world. Neither Intel nor the European Commission were immediately available to comment. Thomas M. McCoy, AMD's executive vice president of legal affairs, said in a recent interview he is confident the European Commission will take action to stop Intel abusing its dominance in the market. "The Intel investigation is coming to a close," he said, adding that he was confident it would result in Neelie Kroes, the competition commissioner, issuing a charge sheet, known as a statement of objections to the company. "I am optimistic she will push ahead with the lawsuit because she is independent from political pressure, both Intel and AMD are big employers in Europe, and because unlike other antitrust cases there are no complicated intellectual property issues at stake in this case," McCoy said. Last year the European Commission launched surprise visits on Intel's offices in Europe, confiscating documents in their hunt for evidence of illegal behavior. Last month the European regulator took over a separate investigation being conducted by German antitrust officials, into claims that Intel was forcing Europe's biggest computer retailer, Media Markt, only to stock computers fitted with Intel chips. Consumer groups have complained to the regulators that computer buyers are getting less choice as a result of Intel's tactics, which include granting rebates in return for loyalty from PC manufacturers. AMD's McCoy said Intel uses the threat of price increases to persuade PC makers like Sony Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. not to build PCs around AMD's chips. "Sony used to have a model running on AMD chips at any given price range but then they went 100 percent Intel. Ultimately the consumer loses through reduced choice," he said. The devil's advocate panel includes the competition department's chief economist, Damien Neven, along with colleagues in the department who aren't involved in the Intel case. If the draft case against Intel is supported by the panel, the investigating team will propose that Kroes issue a statement of objections to the company for the first time in the five years it has spent investigating Intel.
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Shares of Intel Corp. INTC.O rose   nearly 3 percent on Wednesday, a day after a federal judge   dismissed a large portion of Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s   AMD.N antitrust lawsuit against the chipmaker.
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The upstart chipmaker is still on the right path.
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The special master appointed to hear evidence from both parties in the AMD v. Intel antitrust case has recommended that Intel be compelled to produce documents for evidence that it had previously declined to submit. If Judge Joseph A. Farnan, Jr., agrees, Intel may be asked to produce evidence of what AMD alleges to be "foreign misconduct" on Intel's part.
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By Ryan Blitstein, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.  SJ-0524-AMD-subpoenas-Intel-s-lawyers   AMD subpoenas Intel's lawyers   Ryan Blitstein  San Jose Mercury  News, Calif.
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AMD has proved time and time again that its processors offer better performance than the competitionâs - and better value for money too.
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The CEO of the world's largest chipmaker wants hardware developers thinking about graphics, low-power applications, and Intel's determination not to let AMD get the best of it again.
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(InfoWorld) - Intel should have to share documents that could show it used monopolistic practices to force overseas PC vendors and retailers to shun Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) chips, the special master to a U.S. federal court recommended Friday. Intel is expected to contest the recommendation by Special Master Vincent Poppiti, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, before the matter comes before a judge on Jan. 12 for a final ruling. This is the latest round in aÂ long-running legal battleÂ that is scheduled to be decided in a case court beginning in April 2009. AMD has charged that Intel used its overwhelming 80 percent share of the worldwide microprocessor market to violate antitrust laws through coercive acts such as threatening to withhold incentive payments to PC vendors if they specified AMD chips in their products. In September, Intel got a boost when District Court Judge Joseph FarnanÂ ruled that Intel would not have to share those records, since U.S. courts had no jurisdiction over such actions alleged to have occurred in other countries. In return, AMD argued that foreign actions could also impact sales to U.S. customers, despite the fact that its chips are manufactured in Dresden, Germany, and sold to overseas customers. Poppiti's recommendation agrees with AMD's motion, reasoning that the market for x86 microprocessors is global, so Intel's behavior worldwide could serve as evidence in a U.S. antitrust case. Poppiti was appointed to make recommendations to the court related to the discovery phase of the case in which the sides share documents that can be used as evidence. "We are encouraged that the special master recognizes the importance of obtaining all evidence of Intel's wrongdoing, regardless of where it occurs, to demonstrate the impact it has had on AMD's domestic and export business," AMD spokesman Michael Silverman said in an e-mail. Intel lawyers are still reviewing Poppiti's recommendation, and have not yet decided whether they will file additional arguments by Dec. 27, Intel spokesman Chuck Molloy said in an e-mail. Â
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Never to be left outdone for long, AMD answered Intel's challenge yesterday at a press event in San Francisco, unveiling a system design that, while not a single CPU, makes the case for "teraflop on a budget."  It's a four-processor system that uses a pair of Opterons and a pair of co-opted ATI R600 graphics chips.
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Despite fluctuating stock prices, AMD and Intel assure investors that microprocessor market remains strong; analysts agree.
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Once more, with feeling: Why is AMD on the lam, and how can it get back up?
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Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) continues to plug away at microprocessor rival Intel&#39;s (Nasdaq: INTC) lead, which once seemed insurmountable.
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(InfoWorld) - Intel may have lost some internal e-mails that the company is required to produce in aÂ lawsuitÂ brought against it by Advanced Micro DevicesÂ (AMD), lawyers for the company said Monday. In a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Farnan Jr., one of Intel's lawyers revealed that some internal e-mails were missing, despite the company's efforts to preserve documents related to the case. "Intel is taking this matter very seriously. It very much regrets this happened," wrote Richard Horowitz, a partner at Potter, Anderson & Corroon, which represents Intel. Horowitz blamed the possible loss of e-mails on human error. For instance, when Intel employees were instructed to retain e-mails on their hard drives, some employees did not move e-mails from their sent folder to the hard drives, assuming that the company's e-mail servers would preserve them. Instead, the e-mail servers regularly delete e-mails after a certain amount of time has passed, he said. Other employees wrongly assumed that Intel's IT department was automatically saving their e-mails, while some may not have saved all of their e-mails, Horowitz said. In addition, Intel failed to notify hundreds of employees to retain e-mails related to the case, he said. The allegedly lost e-mails were generated "primarily" after AMD filed suit against Intel on June 27, 2005, but earlier e-mails could not be ruled out as among those missing, Horowitz said. In a related filing to the court, AMD blasted Intel's apparent failure to preserve the missing e-mails. "Through what appears to be a combination of gross communication failures, an ill-conceived plan of document retention and lackluster oversight by outside counsel, Intel has apparently allowed evidence to be destroyed," AMD said, noting that Intel continued to allow e-mails to be deleted from its servers after the lawsuit was filed. "Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong," AMD said. AMD and Intel are scheduled to discuss the document retention failures at a status meeting on March 7. AMD demanded in its letter to the court that Intel be required to give a full accounting of its document "preservation problems" no later than March 21. AMD's 2005 suit alleges that Intel engaged in anti-competitive practices to bolster a monopolistic position in the PC processor market. AMD claims that Intel coerced 38 hardware manufacturers, including DellÂ and Sony, into using only Intel processors or discontinuing use or promotion of AMD products. The alleged threats include forcing manufacturers into exclusive relationships, or offering deep discounts or marketing subsidies in exchange for discontinuing the use of AMD products. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, covers Intel operations in North America, Asia, and Europe. The suit was based in part on the findings of a Japanese anti-trust investigation, which found in March 2005 that Intel had abused its market position to restrain competition in Japan's microprocessor market. Â
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Intel Corp. has taken some lumps this year due to weakening market conditions and several strategic errors, but the semiconductor supplier remains loyal to its shareholders.
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The class-action lawsuit filed against Dell Computer on Wednesday makes a complex case, and does not provide much evidence to back up some of its principal pillars other than citing Internet blogs and press reports. Intel is involved, though only peripherally. There are leaps of logic one must take to accept its premises. But whatever the case's outcome, it has already damaged Dell.
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It makes business sense for AMD to do so and there still a healthy market for ATI products paired with Intel processors, AMD's chief technology officer said.