Remember how Intel got smacked in the face with a $1.45 billion fine in the EU for shadily suffocating AMD into submission? Today, New York’s Attorney General has brought the fight to the US. This is going to get messy.
https://gizmodo.com/intel-smacked-with-staggering-1-45-billion-fine-in-eur-5252046
From the looks of it, this case will mirror the European Commission’s case almost exactly:
“Rather than compete fairly, Intel used bribery and coercion to maintain a stranglehold on the market,” Mr. Cuomo said in a statement. “Intel’s actions not only unfairly restricted potential competitors, but also hurt average consumers who were robbed of better products and lower prices.”
The AG even echoes some of the same cases used in the EC’s investigation, like the time Intel allegedly paid $130 million to keep IBM from selling AMD-based servers, which IBM execs considered as much a business deal as a way to avoid incurring the “wrath of Intel.” I too avoid the wrath of Intel, by using AMD chips. Bam! Also: no. But still, dick move!
Cuomo is working with the same body of evidence that the European Commission was, and probably quite a bit more—the FTC’s been breathing down their necks for over a year now—so I’d expect this to get pretty uncomfortable for Intel. And by uncomfortable, of course, I mean very, very expensive. [NYT]
https://gizmodo.com/intel-antitrust-investigation-officially-underway-5014177
