Cuomo Launches Antitrust Probe of Intel
554488
New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo is investigating possible violations of state and federal antitrust laws by Intel, the world's largest manufacturer of microprocessors.
59626
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday he is conducting an industry- wide probe of health insurers into an alleged scheme to defraud consumers by manipulating reimbursement rates.
416194
Andrew M. Cuomo issued a wide-ranging subpoena to Intel as part of an investigation into whether the company violated federal or state antitrust laws in the way it priced and sold microprocessors.
162710
The European Union&#39;s head office Wednesday expanded its probe into whether EU governments are illegally requiring that the computers they buy must contain microprocessors made by Intel Corp.
677842
New York state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has launched an antitrust investigation of Intel, and on Thursday, his office served a wide-ranging subpoena on the company.Cuomo is investigating whether Intel violated state and federal antitrust laws by coercing customers to exclude its main rival, Advanced Micro Devices, from the worldwide market for PC CPUs (central processing units), Cuomo said in a news release.The subpoena seeks information on Intel&#8217;s pricing practices and possible attempts to exclude competitors through its market power, Cuomo&#39;s office said.(More to come.)
653540
The European Union's head office Wednesday expanded its probe into whether EU governments are illegally requiring that the computers they buy must contain microprocessors made by Intel Corp.
388291
Intel offices in Munich were raided by the European Commission on Tuesday as part of an ongoing antitrust investigation.
383297
Advanced Micro Devices said it had received a subpoena regarding an investigation into possible antitrust violations in the graphics processor and card business.
297069
Intel, the world's biggest computer chipmaker, is being investigated by the New York Attorney General.
555560
(InfoWorld) - South Korean antitrust regulators have issued preliminary allegations against IntelÂ forÂ allegedly undermining competition in its PC microprocessor market, but formal charges won't be made for at least another month. The Korean Fair Trade Commission (FTC) sent a "statement of objection" to Intel, which contained preliminary allegations, said Nick Jacobs, an Intel spokesman in Singapore. The document is not a final decision, nor has it been upheld by a court. "It does not itself amount to a finding that there has been a violation of law," he said. "As such, any conclusions about our business practices are at best premature." A senior deputy director at South Korea's FTC said the investigation against Intel remains ongoing. The next step for the world's largest chip maker is to respond to the letter of objection, after which the FTC will rule on the case. South Korea could become the third place to rule on an Intel antitrust case. In 2005, Japan's Fair Trade Commission helped kick off the recent spate ofÂ investigations against IntelÂ by ruling that the company's Japan unit stifled competition by offering rebates to Japanese PC makers in return for agreements to limit purchases of or not buy rival x86 microprocessors. Earlier this year, the European Commission ruled similarly,Â alleging that Intel violated EU antitrust lawsÂ by giving rebates to customers that enabled the company to win sales from rival Advanced Micro Devices. AMD filed an antitrust suit against IntelÂ in June, 2005 at the U.S. District Court in Delaware, shortly after Japan's FTC revealed its allegations against the company. "Following formal action in Japan and Europe, global scrutiny is increasingly focused on Intel's harm to competition and consumers alike. Governments around the world must enforce antitrust laws to bring fair and open competition that will benefit computer manufacturers and buyers everywhere," said Tom McCoy, AMD's executive vice president, legal affairs and chief administrative officer, in an e-mail. (Ben Ames in Boston contributed to this report.)
71921
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday he is widening a probe of the student-loan industry to target underwriting standards, prompting lawmakers at a U.S. Senate committee hearing to raise questions about possible discriminatory red-lining.
26370
(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.
137166
(InfoWorld) - The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has subpoenaed Advanced Micro DevicesÂ as part of an antitrust investigation into the market for graphics processors and graphics cards, AMD said Thursday. AMD recently entered the graphics chip business with itsÂ acquisition of ATI Technologies, which was finalized last month. The DOJ has not made any allegations against AMD or ATI, and AMD intends to cooperate with the investigation, it said. While the DOJ hasn't said specifically what it is investigating, one industry analyst speculated that the case could be about price fixing. The DOJ has alreadyÂ charged a number of chip companiesÂ in the DRAMÂ memory chip market for price fixing, and isÂ investigating severalÂ in the SRAM (Static RAM) chip market. "If the DOJ wanted to, it could just go down every line in the semiconductor industry and find the same issue," said Gartner analyst Richard Gordon. That's because there are a relatively few number of suppliers in the chip industry and an open flow of communication between competitors and customers, who may not define price fixing the same way the DOJ does, he said. The investigations are unlikely to benefit end users, according to Gordon. Historically, prices in the chip industry have gone up and down based on supply and demand and he doubts that such investigations will result in lower pricing. A spokeswoman for AMD in Europe, Hollis Krym, said she did not know if the investigation has a broad scope and includes other graphics chip companies or if it is in the context of the ATI acquisition. U.S. antitrust authorities have already approved AMD's merger with ATI. In the DRAM market, the DOJ has charged Samsung Electronics, Hynix Semiconductor America, Elpida Memory, and Infineon TechnologiesÂ with price fixing and sentenced the companies to pay multi-million dollar fines. Sony, Cypress Semiconductor, and the U.S. arms of Mitsubishi Electric, Samsung Electronics, and Toshiba have all been asked to turn over information to the DOJ for an investigation into SRAM price fixing.
380477
The European Commission has expanded anÂ ongoing antitrust probeÂ of computer chip maker Intel to examine claims that the company has been pressuring the Continent's largest computer retail chain not to sell computers containing chips made by archrival Advanced Micro DevicesÂ (AMD), Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd confirmed Monday.
223171
The Nvidia Corporation and Advanced Micro Devices have been subpoenaed as part of an investigation of potential antitrust violations involving graphics chips.
189744
The European Commission confirmed Monday it has received a written response to the&#160;formal antitrust charges&#160;it filed against computer chip maker Intel, after some delays.&quot;We have received the company&#39;s response and are examining it carefully,&quot; said a person close to the competition department.In July the Commission accused the world&#39;s biggest maker of computer chips of handing out &quot;substantial rebates&quot; to computer manufacturers in return for buying the bulk of their x86 chips from Intel.It also accused the company of paying computer makers for scrapping or delaying the launch of machines fitted with AMD chips, and of selling its chips for server computers at below cost to large customers such as governments and universities.Such practices are illegal under European antitrust law when applied by companies that dominate their market, as Intel does.In addition to the written response filed Monday, Intel has also asked the Commission for the opportunity to respond to the charges face-to-face in an oral hearing, said Chuck Mulloy, a company spokesman in Santa Clara, California. The Commission will decide the date&#39;s oral hearing.&quot;It will be a while before the hearing. The Commission staff will have to read our substantial response,&quot; Mulloy said.Intel asked twice for extra time to prepare the written response. The initial deadline was in October. That was shifted to Jan. 4. Then, as the new deadline loomed, Intel asked for the weekend to complete the document.&quot;There were some loose ends that needed to be addressed. It was nothing unusual,&quot; Mulloy said.
721519
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday he is conducting an industry-wide probe of health insurers into an alleged scheme to defraud consumers by manipulating reimbursement rates.