14 DAY TRIAL // Earlier today the European Commission has announced a highly anticipated ruling to the investigation into Intel's business practices. According to the ruling, the Santa Clara, California-based chip maker has been found guilty of anticompetitive conduct and is expected to pay a fine of EUR 1.06 billion or US$1.45 billion. Following EU Commission's ruling, Intel released a statement claiming that it had been wrongly accused and that it would appeal. On that note, the world's number two in computer processors has just issued a statement of its own, applauding the European Commission's ruling.
“Today’s ruling is an important step toward establishing a truly competitive market,” said Dirk Meyer, AMD president and CEO. “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.”
In addition to the statement made by the chip maker's CEO, AMD also highlighted some of the previous rulings against Intel, all of which concern Chipzilla's business practices. Sunnyvale, California-based Advanced Micro Devices points to the fact that, to this point, no antitrust enforcement agency has yet found Intel and its business practices as being lawful and oriented towards the consumer. AMD mentions the 2008 ruling of the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), which issued a fine of approximately US$25.4 million, accusing Intel of having abused its dominant position.
“After an exhaustive investigation, the EU came to one conclusion – Intel broke the law and consumers were hurt,” said Tom McCoy, AMD executive vice president for legal affairs. “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.”
The rivalry between Intel and AMD, the world's leading chip makers, has been going for some time now. Ranging from various remarks to legal disputes, the competition between the two chip giants has made the headlines for a considerable amount of time.