US computer chip maker Intel Corp is confident the way it runs its business is legal, the company's chairman said on Tuesday, commenting on an antitrust investigation by the European Commission.
EU officials raided Intel last July as part of a years-long probe into whether the firm was abusing its dominant position. It is being investigated in South Korea and has been warned by Japan against stifling competition in the microprocessor sector.
Speaking at a business forum, Craig Barrett, Intel's chairman and former chief executive, defended his company's position. "We are fully co-operating with the investigation. We don't think we've done anything wrong. We are quite confident that our business practices are quite legal," he told reporters, declining to comment further.
The Commission said it was still working on the case and declined to give further details. The European Union's top antitrust body had begun its probe about five years ago, but the case lay dormant until Intel's smaller rival Advanced Micro Devices pressured the Commission to make a move.
AMD argued to competition authorities around the world that Intel maintained a 90 percent market share of microprocessors for personal computers through threats and kickbacks such as unfair rebates.
In South Korea, authorities said in February they had not yet decided whether the company broke regulations. Japan warned Intel last year that it had tried to stifle competition through offering unfair rebates to personal computer makers, bit did not fine the company.