FTC gears up for Intel investigation

Chip giant Intel is bracing itself for an impending legal wrangle with the US competition authority, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

The FTC was expected to charge Intel this week with abusing its monopoly power by illegally withholding technical information from competitors and companies with which it is in dispute, reports claimed. A suit could spark an antitrust investigation into Intel's activities. The FTC shares responsibility for antitrust law enforcement with the US Department of Justice (DoJ).

An Intel representative refused to comment on the impending action, but said: 'Nothing has happened, apart from a lot of press speculation.'

Intel, whose processors are used in about 90 per cent of PCs worldwide, does not deny it withholds information from potential competitors or companies that file suits against it, maintaining this is within its rights. But if the FTC's five commissioners authorise a lawsuit, it would spark another wide-ranging investigation into a vendor that dominates the global hi-tech market.

Officials in Washington are thought to be keen to dispel speculation that any action against Intel would be linked to the Microsoft case, which is currently under DoJ investigation. They say that not only are the cases unrelated, the Microsoft one is more important.

Any investigation is likely to concentrate on a dispute between Intel and US workstation vendor Intergraph.

Meanwhile, Intel confirmed its 64-bit Merced processor will not ship in volume until mid-2000 instead of the second half of 1999, as previously stated. Intel claimed that the initial shipments of the chip would still arrive in 1999.