| To: steve phil who started this subject | 4/9/2004 10:37:55 PM |
| From: Savant | of 8486 |
| |
RT--UPDATE 6-Japanese trade officials raid Intel offices
By Kunihiko Kichise and Daniel Sorid
TOKYO/SAN FRANCISCO, April 8 (Reuters) - Japan's Fair Trade
Commission raided three offices of Intel Corp. on Thursday as
part of a probe into possible antitrust violations, a Japanese
official said.
Intel <INTC.O>, which supplies microprocessors to four of
every five personal computers, faces a similar probe in Europe
that stems from complaints by its archrival, Advanced Micro
Devices Inc.
"They have worked to prevent other processor makers from
supplying personal computer manufacturers," the Japanese
official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said the company is fully
cooperating with the Japanese regulators, but declined further
comment.
Intel shares were off about 1 percent in late trading on
the Nasdaq, while technology stocks were broadly higher on
positive news from Dell Inc. <DELL.O> and Yahoo Inc. <YHOO.O>
The raids stirs up decade-old allegations from competitors
that Intel's business practices are unfairly aggressive.
Japanese authorities told AMD they were investigating
whether Intel undercut competitors with large discounts, and
threatened to halt shipments of its chips to PC makers who did
business with Intel rivals, said AMD spokesman David Kroll. AMD
was also contacted by trade authorities in Japan on Thursday,
he said.
Kroll declined to comment on whether AMD had filed a formal
complaint with the Japanese about Intel, but said his company
has had ongoing discussions with Japan's regulators. The
company also has ongoing discussions with the U.S. Federal
Trade Commission about Intel, he said.
Japan, the world's third-largest market for PCs, accounted
for 9 percent, or $2.7 billion, of Intel's $30.1 billion in
total revenue last year. Its revenues in Japan rose 42 percent
last year from 2002.
The probe comes about six weeks after Japanese officials
said they were investigating Microsoft's Japanese unit for
possible antitrust violations.
A HISTORY OF INVESTIGATIONS
Intel has faced probes by antitrust regulators before over
how it uses its dominant market position, but it has not been
subjected to the intensity of investigations faced by Microsoft
Corp. <MSFT.O>, whose operating system software runs on most of
the world's PCs.
In the United States, Intel faced a three-year
investigation by the Federal Trade Commission that ended in
1993 with no action taken. In 1997, the commission opened up
another investigation into Intel's business practices, which
led to a settlement in 1999 that limited the company's ability
to cut ties with customers that sue it.
In Europe, regulators announced in 2001 that they were
investigating Intel's marketing practices in response to AMD
complaints that the company had used its market position to
reward some customers and punish others to ensure loyalty.
An antitrust case against Microsoft in Europe resulted in a
fine of 497 million euros ($601 million) last month. Microsoft
has said it will appeal the ruling.
Intel shares fell 37 cents to $27.25 in afternoon trading
on Nasdaq. AMD <AMD.N> shares rose 2 cents to $16.92.
($1=0.82 euro)
(Additional reporting by Daisuke Wakabayashi, Kiyoshi Takenaka
and Nathan Layne) |
