Intel Corp received a warning from Japan's Fair Trade Commission about unfair business practices, the regulator said on Tuesday, marking the FTC's second such action against a computer industry giant following a similar move against Microsoft Corp last July. Intel immediately disputed the warning, which was issued to the Japanese unit of the world's largest microchip maker and came with no monetary penalty.
The antitrust watchdog said the unit stifled competition in the microprocessor market by offering rebates to five Japanese personal computer makers that agreed either not to buy or to limit their purchases of chips made by Intel's rivals, namely Advanced Micro Devices and Transmeta.
The FTC said such practices had been going on since May 2002 after the inflow into Japan of low-priced personal computers heated up competition in the domestic market, prompting Japanese PC makers to turn increasingly to AMD and Transmeta chips that were typically offered at a discount to Intel products.
Intel said its business practices were fair and lawful and expressed concerns the FTC's finding was not based on antitrust principles commonly accepted world-wide. It said it would evaluate the warning before deciding its next step.