AMD Receives Federal Subpoena

[merwin]

AMD Receives Federal Subpoena

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 30 (AP) — Advanced Micro Devices said late Thursday that it had received a subpoena from the Justice Department regarding an investigation into possible antitrust violations in the graphics processor and card business.

A.M.D., based in Sunnyvale, Calif., is a leading maker of microprocessors that act as the calculating engines of personal computers. It entered the graphics chip market this summer, agreeing to acquire ATI Technologies for $5.4 billion.

That move was seen as a strategic blow to Intel, A.M.D.’s much larger rival, and one that would allow A.M.D. to broaden its product portfolio in a continuing attempt to banish an image as a small competitor that sold microprocessors and flash memory chips. The deal was completed in October.

A.M.D. said that the Justice Department had not made any specific accusations against it or ATI, and that it intended to cooperate with the investigation. A spokesman declined to comment further.

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Funny, considering:
a) The Justice Department has far more important things to investigate, such as... Iraq? Republicans? Corruption?
b) Intel has been putting graphics chips with some of their processors for a while now. Since when is it considered antitrust for a SMALLER chipmaker to buy a graphics company to do the same thing that the larger chipmaker is doing already?

[fujiyama]

1. I found this suspicious as well

I wonder how much Intel has given this administration (I would check but I'm sorta lazy at the moment).

[lvx35]

2. If we lived in a free market system, people would celebrate this.

But the republicans give us nothing of the sort, this is an oligarchy, and AMD is threatening the company with the most government ties...such competition cannot be tolerated!

[merwin]

6. Sounds about right!

Can't have AMD threatening Intel!

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

3. oh please!

The shit Intel passes off for graphics is in something like 45% of all PC's

[AlamoDemoc]

4. America the free!...shit...I need new passport

[gr8dane_daddy]

5. I used to work for AMD...

got laid off in 2002. However I remember how we seemed to be nipping at the heels of Intel all the time...like some annoying dog. I got the impression that Intel wanted us around (but small) so they don't get accused of having a monopoly. Their only real competitive advantage is their manufacturing capacity. AMD tends to have better technology, just no or little capacity.

[merwin]

7. Yup. AMD has the superior technology, but only 1/4 of the market.

Intel gains server share, AMD gets notebook boost

Overall, Intel shipped 76.1 percent of all desktop, notebook and server processors that use the x86 instruction set during the quarter. AMD owned 23.3 percent of that market. AMD's overall momentum continued; a year ago, Intel had 80.7 percent of the market while AMD held 17.7 percent. Mercury Research measures the number of chips shipped into distribution channels, not the breakdown of how processors appear in end systems.
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Now tell me... how can a company that comprises only 25% of the CPU sales be declared a monopoly?

[BadgerKid]

8. It's the same-old for AMD

Has the plantiff been mentioned anywhere? I haven't seen it.

On some other forums, it's argued that Intel is in the process of losing its monopoly on the processor market and is fighting tooth and nail to retain it. To put this into perspective, it's not entirely unlike how the Dems have been suffering under Rep rule.

There it is suggested that AMD's stock price is being manipulated through timed news releases and low-balled financial earnings predictions by analysts in order for Wall Street to unload Intel stock and buy AMD stock at low, low prices, and for hedge funds to short the heck out of AMD. A couple of times now, there has been sudden unusual activity on options contracts.