Intel hits back at claims made by AMD in antitrust lawsuit

Nine weeks after being slapped with an antitrust lawsuit, Intel has launched a broadside against accuser Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) by refuting all charges and suggesting its rival's goal is to be shielded from competition and its past business mistakes.

Intel on Thursday filed a 63-page formal response to AMD's 48-page complaint, filed on June 27 in the United States District Court in Delaware.

The semiconductor giant, which dominates the global market share for general-purpose micro-?processors used in personal computers, said AMD's claims were 'factually incorrect and contradictory'. It also claimed the complaint would hurt consumers, rather than help them, by trying to impede Intel's ability to lower its prices.

AMD's lawsuit alleges that Intel has engaged in anticompetitive practices which violated US antitrust law. It claims Intel pressured 38 system manufacturers - including Lenovo, Dell, Sony and ?Hewlett-Packard - to use its microprocessors and refrain from dealing with AMD.

Intel's response: 'Under the cover of competition law, AMD seeks to shield itself from competition. AMD claims that Intel should not be allowed to offer price discounts, but admits that it offers potential customers price discounts and other inducements. This rivalry reflects the essence of competition: earning more sales by cutting prices and expanding markets, while delivering more benefits to consumers.'

It noted that since Intel had invented the microprocessor in 1971, prices for these chips had declined and the capabilities had increased. An example of this innovation was the wide availability of a US$300 entry-level PC 'which delivers the performance of a mainframe that cost as much as 100 times more a decade ago'.

While AMD claimed that Intel's conduct had limited demand for its alternative PC microprocessors, it admitted that it was 'capacity constrained', which meant AMD was selling all of the microprocessors it was producing, Intel said.