AMD Responds to Intel Fine; Likes it a Lot
Yesterday Intel was the target if the biggest ever fine handed down by the European Union and AMD couldn’t be happier.
The European Commission yesterday imposed a fine of $1.45 billion on Intel as punishment for what it felt was anticompetitive behavior designed to push rival AMD out of the market. While Intel’s Paul Otellini has said the company will be appealing the fine AMD fully supports the decision, of course, and maintains that Intel’s pricing practices broke the law.
"After an exhaustive investigation, the EU came to one conclusion--Intel broke the law and consumers were hurt," Tom McCoy, AMD's executive vice president for legal affairs, said in a statement. "With this ruling, the industry will benefit from an end to Intel's monopoly-inflated pricing and European consumers will enjoy greater choice, value and innovation."
In an official statement, AMD's president and CEO, Dirk Meyer labeled the ruling an important step toward restoring the market's competitive conditions:
"Today's ruling is an important step toward establishing a truly competitive market," said Meyers. "AMD has consistently been a technology innovation leader and we are looking forward to the move from a world in which Intel ruled, to one which is ruled by customers," he finished.
Intel maintains that it acted well within legal boundaries by offering rebates to manufacturers who agreed to obtain the majority of their processors from Intel as well as paying manufacturers to either delay or cancel the launch of AMD-based products.
This week, speculation has been mounting as to whether or not Intel will face the same level of scrutiny at home following statements from Christine Varney, the DOJ's top antitrust official. In a speech to the Center for American Progress, Varney said the Department of Justice will be "aggressively pursuing cases where monopolists try to use their dominance in the marketplace to stifle competition and harm consumers.”
[UPDATED] Edited to include comments form AMD's Dirk Meyer.
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Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.
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1raflo wouldn't be hypocrite if amd just had said "we DONT support in any way that decision"?Reply
of course they're happy :) -
icepick314 giving discount to manufacturers should be allowed but payoffs for delaying or canceling AMD products is downright dirty...Reply
i'm not a fan of AMD products, Intel/Nvidia user myself, but Intel SHOULD pay the fine for what they did to European market... -
cryogenic IzzyCraftWhy wouldn't they be anytime your competition is brought to justice for taking anti competitive actions, is a good time for you.Reply
Fixed.
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tipoo This would only benefit AMD if Intel was forced to pay a royalty for every processor sold through their "rebates".Reply -
cyberkuberiah we wish for good am3 processors for the future , 800 series chipsets and the next gen of radeon cards . with ddr3 premium falling steadily , should give a solid offering hopefully at good value too .Reply -
spongebob "AMD Responds to Intel Fine; Likes it a Lot"Reply
Thanks for taking the time to write this article and point out the obvious.
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PC_GI Intel's procs are way way way too expensive. I use only Intel but I wish they had prices like AMD. And I'm sure most Intel users feel the same way. Maybe this SMALL chunk of money will help them start making the right decisions and hold the consumer in their better interests. But that's not at all whats really going to happen. Greed greed greed.Reply -
apmyhr Wow, I was so sure that AMD would be upset with the rulling. Thank you Tomshardware for clearing that up for me.Reply -
humand while "offering rebates to manufacturers who agreed to obtain the majority of their processors from Intel" might be debatable of weather is right or wrong, "paying manufacturers to either delay or cancel the launch of AMD-based products" is plain wrong and they should pay dearly for it.Reply