European court reject Intel's plea to delay inquiry on AMD's complaints

28 January 2009

A top European Union court on Tuesday turned down a request by Intel, the world's largest chip maker to allow it more time to prepare for defense against allegations of malpractices.

The case relates to investigations into Intel's business practices by European Commission regulators on rival Advanced Micro Devices' (AMD) complaint of Intel abusing its dominant position in computer chips. AMD has alleged that Intel offers large rebates to computer makers in addition to paying them to delay or cancel product lines and offering chips at prices below actual cost, for powerful server computers.

Intel has denied the charges and in its submission before the European Court of First Instance, and claimed that the investigation was being mishandled. It also said it needed more time for preparing its defense.

Intel's claim was rejected yesterday by Marc Jaeger, the president of the court who said that Intel had not been prevented in any way from preparing its defense in good time.

Intel spokesman Robert Manneta said the company was disappointed with the ruling adding that the company is concerned over the lack of certain documents that would help them conduct an effective defense.

The ruling clears the way for the investigation to resume immediately prior to a final decision by regulators on whether Intel resorted to illegal marketing practices against its main competitor AMD.