Intel escapes monopoly fine as competition probe ends
More volume pricing restrictions
Chip giant Intel looks set to escape an anti-trust fine from the Federal Trade Commission.
The two sides have reached an agreement to end the probe on similar terms to those Intel agreed with AMD.
The deal means Intel will have to follow some restrictions on volume pricing of graphics processors, not just of chips.
The deal is not finalized yet, but should be by Friday, Reuters reports.
Last month both sides filed a joint motion calling for suspension of the action while detailed talks continued.
Intel has already paid out over a billion euros to end competition probes in Europe and handed $1.25bn to AMD to end its legal action.
Intel refused to comment except to say that talks were ongoing. The FTC also declined to comment. ®
COMMENTS
Only the threat...
Of prison sentences will stop big companies breaking the law for puny fines.
Justice
We've heard of it.
intel and Microsoft between them have held the IT industry back for the last quarter century.
When is it going to stop?
Me, I'm banking on the coming high mobility form factor to finally break their stranglehold on the industry. Neither intel or microsoft are ready to compete honestly in that market and their existing bully-boy status with their OEMs wont be enough to dissuade those OEMs from jumping into that market and offering non intel/microsoft based kit at long last.
Any manufacturer that does allow themselves to be bullied into not participating in that market will be a footnote in history within a decade.
Prison
Exactly. What's the point of fining these fine upstanding examples of the business class. All they're going to do is pass the cost on to their customers and/or employees. The Executive Compensation Review Board will make sure that the executives who did the dodgy deeds don't have to suffer the consequences.
"We're all in this together".
No we're not.
Intel has made some changes...
While the bill is not a lot of money for Intel, it certainly changes AMD's profit margin. AMD have been working hard to turn things around for a long time & hopefully this will change things somewhat. I do have a problem with AMD though that isn't true of Intel. Intel at least support Open Source Software & have assisted with keeping processor software moving forward. AMD is actually doing the same now but for a long time they hurt themselves by not supporting OSS.
