U.S. starts antitrust probe into graphics chips
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The U.S. Department of Justice has issued subpoenas to Nvidia Corp.  and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.  as part of a probe into potential antitrust violations involving graphics chips, helping to send shares in the companies lower.
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Panel trying to decide whether to bring formal antitrust charges against the chipmaker, according to a source.
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In connection with what the two companies are only describing today as an investigation into potential antitrust violations, graphics processor producer nVidia and AMD â- the new parent of processor company ATI â- announced they have received subpoenas from the US Dept. of Justice.
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Antitrust officials are looking for evidence that the chipmaker broke the rules to guarantee its chips would be competitive on the European market. Intel says it is cooperating with the investigation.
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U.S. antitrust regulators are investigating possible anti-competitive practices at the American Stock Exchange and Chicago Board Options Exchange, according to the annual report of the National Association of Securities Dealers.
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Ongoing antitrust investigation, possibly regarding price fixing, extends to Advanced Micro Devices.
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U.S. regulators have begun a formal probe into stock option practices at Activision Inc. , the No. 2 U.S. video game publisher, according to a company filing.
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AMD subpoenaed The US Department of Justice is investigating claims of anti-trust activity in the graphics chip and add-in card markets, it has emerged. AMD yesterday said it had been subpoena'd by the DoJ as a result of its acquisition of ATI.â¦
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The European Commission, fresh from a major court victory over Microsoft, launched new antitrust investigations into the software giant on Monday on suspicion it abused its market dominance to favor its Web browser and Office product.
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Update: E.U. joins U.S. and Japan in investigation of anticompetitive behavior in the flat-panel display market.
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Nvidia Corp  is rolling  out a graphics microchip that will be embedded in the main  collection of components that make up a personal computer, as  the company goes toe to toe with Intel Corp  in the  integrated graphics chip market.
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U.S. Department of Justice, Japan Fair Trade Commission looking into anticompetitive behavior in the flat-panel display market.
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(InfoWorld) - An investigation into possible anticompetitive behavior in the flat-panel display market widened Tuesday, with four more big vendors saying they had been contacted by investigators. Samsung ElectronicsÂ said it had been served with subpoenas by regulators in the U.S., South Korea, and Japan, while Sharp and Taiwan's AU Optronics were contacted by the Japan Fair Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), they said. Taiwan's Chi Mei Optoelectronics said a subsidiary in the U.S. was also contacted by the DOJ. The investigation came to light Monday when LG.Philips LCD Co.Â revealed that it had been subpoenaedÂ by regulators in the U.S., South Korea, and Japan. The probe centers on TFT (thin-film transistor) LCDs, according to Samsung. They are used in a wide range of electronics products including flat-panel televisions and computer monitors, laptop computers, cell phones, and digital music players. The three companies being investigated are among the largest manufacturers of such displays. The investigation comes on the heels of anticompetition probes in the DRAM (dynamic RAM) andÂ SRAM (static RAM) markets. The DRAM investigationÂ focussed on price-fixing, which is when vendors cooperate to set prices artificially. Sharp Spokeswoman Miyuki Nakayama said the company was surprised to have received the summons. Sharp has a policy of "fair and ethical management," she said. Cho Sung In, a spokeswoman for Samsung in Seoul, said: "Samsung Electronics is strongly committed to fair competition and ethical practices and forbids anti-competitive behavior." Among other LCD manufacturers, Sony said its joint-venture with Samsung, S-LCD, had not been contacted by the investigators. Shares in LG.Philips dropped 4 percent Tuesday, while Samsung's closed down two-thirds of a percent. The general market, as measured by the Kospi index, fell 1 percent. Sharp waited until after the market had closed to announce it had been contacted. Its shares rose 2 percent Tuesday. In the DRAM investigation, Market leaders Samsung andÂ Hynix Semiconductor pled guiltyÂ in 2005 to price-fixing and receivedÂ fines of $300 millionÂ and $185 million, respectively. Japan'sÂ Elpida Memory had to pay $84 millionÂ and Germany'sÂ Infineon Technologies paid a $160 million fine. In October several manufacturers of SRAM chips said they had been subpoenaed by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) although they did not disclose the nature of the DOJ's requests. The companies were Cypress Semiconductor and the U.S. units of Mitsubishi Electric, Samsung Electronics, Sony, and Toshiba. Â ADVERTISEMENTNEW IT SERVICES FROM IBM: EASIER TO BUY AND IMPLEMENTDiscover a simpler, more cost-effective way to get the solutions your company needs to grow more flexible and efficient.
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Advanced Micro Devices said it had received a subpoena regarding an investigation into possible antitrust violations in the graphics processor and card business.
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(InfoWorld) - Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) said Wednesday it has gained approval from key U.S., Canadian, and German antitrust regulators for itsÂ $5.4 billion plan to buyÂ Canadian chip set developer ATI Technologies. Anti-trust approval for the deal, which has been billed as a major step forward for AMD in itsÂ battle against rival Intel, pushes the acquisition far closer to completion. But it still faces several smaller hurdles, including a vote of approval by ATI shareholders on Oct. 13, and further scrutiny by regulators in Canada and Taiwan. The companies expect the acquisition to close by Nov. 30 of this year. ATI has to pay AMD a termination fee of $162 million if it backs out of the arrangement. AMD said a required waiting period related to the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 has expired, opening the door for its purchase of ATI as far as U.S. antitrust authorities are concerned. Canada's Commissioner of Competition has also given the deal a green light, as has the German Federal Cartel Office. The world's second largest microprocessor maker hopes the ATI purchase will beef up its graphics and chipset prowess, and give it a new weapon in its fight for market share against Intel. Until now, AMD has relied on third-party chipset makers such as ATI, Nvidia of the U.S., as well as two Taiwanese chip set vendors, Via Technologies and Silicon Integrated Systems, for the majority of its chip sets. Chip sets are a vital pair of chips inside a PC that regulate the flow of data between the microprocessor and other system chips, such as memory and graphics. Many chip sets integrate graphics, allowing PC makers to forego adding graphics cards to systems. Some analysts believe that in the future, chip sets will take on far more work than just graphics, one day including even the microprocessor.
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Graphics chip maker Nvidia Corp.   said on Friday that it received a subpoena from the  U.S. Department of Justice as part of an probe into potential  antitrust violations involving graphics processing units and  cards.
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New integrated 690 chipset is first to include the ATI Radeon X1250 graphics processor.