Document Details Allegations Against Intel in Korea

Intel’s (INTC) antitrust troubles haven’t gotten as much attention as Microsoft’s (MSFT), in large part because most evidence concerning the chip maker’s tactics remains locked up in confidential documents. But some new, unflattering details about one investigation are coming to light.

In January, the Korean Federal Trade Commission produced a 133-page public version of its findings against Intel, which it announced last June without providing many specifics. A Korean-speaking research fellow working with a non-profit advocacy group, the American Antitrust Institute, subsequently produced a 15-page translation of sections of the bigger document (which was noted this week by the Inquirer).

The excerpts lay out a series of carrots and sticks that Intel allegedly offered Samsung Electronics Co. and Sambo Computer–-two big PC makers in Korea–-to reduce chip purchases from rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) and keep Intel as their main supplier. For example, the document suggests that Intel withheld rebates from Samsung in 2002 to punish it from starting to use AMD chips, later coming up with a more attractive collection of incentives that eventually led Samsung to curtail purchases from AMD.

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