Will the FTC re-open Intel investigation?

Just a few months after the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) effectively shut the door on an investigation into alleged anti-trust activities, it now seems perhaps that decision was a trifle premature. IDT said a few days ago that it would need outside financing to prop up its ailing x.86 project, and Cyrix said it would get out of the discrete x.86 chip business and was looking for a buyer. Meanwhile AMD's CEO, Jerry Sanders, in announcing his poor financial results, noted that was in large part due to extremely aggressive pricing strategies from Intel. Intel has much, much deeper pockets than AMD, which is not only strapped for cash but in hock. Rise, the Taiwanese startup, will only compete against Intel at the very low end of the market. This morning,

talked to senior VP of Intel's architecture business group, who insisted that it made money on its Celeron range and that it had no intention of squashing any of its competitors. But with only AMD now effectively fighting the good fight against the Great Satan of Chips, surely it is only a matter of time before the FTC will have to re-open an investigation into Intel. ®