14 DAY TRIAL // Even if Intel's Q2 revenues have been fairly within initial expectations, this doesn't necessarily mean that the Santa-Clara based chips manufacturer is doing all that well. Or, there is also the possibility that perhaps everything is well with the company, and that it just isn't genuinely concerned for the number of antitrust charges that are being thrown at it. On that note, it looks like the leading manufacturer of microprocessors is, yet again, on the verge of facing new antitrust allegations from European regulators.
The news comes just after Intel has gone public with its impressive Q2 revenues, which showed a 22% growth compared to the same period last year for the company. Tuesday night, a report on The Wall Street Journal's web page indicated that Intel was again facing antitrust accusations, coming from regulators in the U.S and abroad. The report cited people familiar with the matter, although for the time being no official charges have been brought against Intel.
The same source stated that said charges would be formulated and made public as early as Thursday, and that they would stem from the allegation that Intel had offered inducements to European retailers in return for not buying processors from rival Advanced Micro Devices.
This is a little like deja-vu for the Santa-Clara based chip manufacturer, which has already been fined with $26 million by the Fair Trade Commission of the Republic of Korea for the breach of antitrust rules. Just one month ago, as Intel was being accused of the same practices by the Korean regulators, reports had it that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission was also launching a formal investigation into the chipmaker's business operations.
"We are continuing to cooperate and really don't know what the commission will do," Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy told the paper when asked about the possibility of new charges being brought. "We believe we operate within the law."
These most recent allegations are not the first Intel has prompted in the European Union. Back in 2007, the company was accused of abusing its dominance on the European market to gain sales to AMD's disadvantage.