The European Competition Commission is likely to press formal charges against chip giant Intel.

Intel is accused of abusing its dominant position and offering rebates which effectively kept rival AMD out of certain markets. Intel is further accused of predatory pricing.

The commission has been looking at Intel for six years, since an AMD complaint, and a draft statement of objections has been circulated but not yet given the go-ahead by competition commissioner Neelie Kroes, according to the FT.

According to the New York Times, the case was presented to a panel for approval earlier this week. The panel was introduced as a final check on cases before they get approval to continue.

More from the FT here, and the NYT here - registration required. ®

Related stories

• Intel misses Competition Commission deadline (28 October 2008)
• EC denies 'provisional decision' on Intel anti-trust probe (28 May 2008)
• Intel's Otellini faces Brussels court (11 March 2008)
• Intel and Dixons raided by Competition Commission (12 February 2008)
• Update Intel coughs up EC anti-trust furball (7 January 2008)
• Intel EOLs Pentium D 805 (10 October 2006)
• AMD to conjure a constellation of K8L desktop chips (5 October 2006)
• AMD vs Intel AMD's battle with Intel to go west? (22 July 2005)
• EC raids Dell in Intel anti-trust probe (18 July 2005)
• AMD vs Intel Date set for Intel's response to AMD antitrust claims (15 July 2005)
• AMD shrugs off Intel shackles for ace Q2 (14 July 2005)
• AMD alleges Intel compilers create crash code for its chips (12 July 2005)
• EC officials raid Intel offices (12 July 2005)
• AMD Japan sues Intel for $50m damages - and then some (30 June 2005)
• Intel defeats AMD in court (11 October 2004)
• AMD defeats Intel in US Supreme Court (22 June 2004)
• EC relaunches Intel antitrust probe (9 June 2004)
• AMD, Intel to meet in court — again (20 April 2004)
• AMD, Intel to meet in court (25 October 2001)
• Europe commences Intel investigation (6 April 2001)