BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — European Union antitrust regulators raided Intel Corp. and computer resellers searching for evidence that they may have broken cartel or monopoly rules, the European Commission said Tuesday.
Intel, based in Santa Clara, California, is the world's biggest chip maker, selling more than three-quarters of all microprocessors that run computers using Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system.
Intel spokesman Chuck Molloy confirmed that the company's Munich office in Germany had been raided, saying it would cooperate closely with the investigation.
The EU last July charged Intel with monopoly abuse for below-cost customer rebates and pricing, saying those actions undercut smaller rival computer chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
Regulators said Intel gave ''substantial rebates'' to computer makers for buying most of their x86 central processing units, or CPUs, from Intel.
They also alleged that Intel made payments to manufacturers to get them to delay or cancel product lines using AMD chips and that it sold its own chips below average cost to strategic server customers — such as governments and universities — when bidding against AMD-based products.
The EU says below-cost or predatory pricing may be good for shoppers in the short term but ultimately harms them by killing off rivals that would offer more choice and set a faster pace for innovation.
The EU's executive arm has been investigating Intel's business behavior since 2001, looking into complaints from AMD that it used its power as a market leader to shut out chip rivals. The case has run hot and cold over the last six years with the EU slow to move on AMD's allegations.
