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HP vs. Dell: Showdown at the Windows 7 upgrade corral
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Category: Intel
November 12th, 2009
Intel to pay AMD $1.25 billion as companies end litigation war; Is it a new chip era?
Intel and AMD on Thursday said they will settle all legal disputes, including antitrust litigation, for $1.25 billion. AMD CEO Dirk Meyer said the settlement ushers in a “new era” in the chip industry. But Intel CEO Paul Otellini was a bit defiant in a conference call this morning, saying that there would be no changes to the company’s business practices because the company has not acted illegally - and added that the New York Attorney General’s complaint against Intel was also without merit.
Under the terms of the settlement, Intel will pay AMD $1.25 billion cash within 30 days. Among other key items (statement):
- AMD and Intel both get patent rights in a cross-licensing pact;
- Intel will give up any patent claims against AMD;
- Intel will agree to adhere to business practice provisions;
- And AMD drops all pending litigation against Intel.
Intel has been under fire from regulators in Europe over its alleged treatment of AMD.
The companies said in a joint statement that more details about the cross-licensing pact, a 5-year deal, and Intel’s business practice agreement will be revealed in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Other odds and ends worth noting:
November 4th, 2009
New York AG files antitrust charges against Intel; alleges bribery, coercion
The New York Attorney General’s office today accused chip maker Intel of engaging in “a worldwide, systematic campaign of illegal conduct,” including paying kickbacks and threatening computer makers, and filed federal antitrust charges against it. (PDF of Complaint)
In a statement, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said that e-mails revealed that Intel has scored exclusive agreements with computer makers to use its microprocessors by resorting to “rebates” and threats, such as cutting off payments, funding a competitor or ending joint development ventures. In a press release, Cuomo said:
Rather than compete fairly, Intel used bribery and coercion to maintain a stranglehold on the market. Intel’s actions not only unfairly restricted potential competitors, but also hurt average consumers who were robbed of better products and lower prices. These illegal tactics must stop and competition must be restored to this vital marketplace.
Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy told the Wall Street Journal that the company will defend itself against the charges and that “Neither consumers who have consistently benefited from lower prices and increased innovation, nor Justice, are being served by the decision to file a case now.”
Cuomo’s office said the company also tried to erase traces of its practices by “eliminating crucial but flagrantly objectionable provisions from written agreements or by camouflaging language about illegal guaranteed market shares with terms like ‘volume targets.’ ”
The AG’s office noted specific instances of the illegal practices involving Intel and Dell, HP and IBM. Among the allegations:
- From 2001 to 2006, Intel granted Dell a privileged position vis-à-vis other computer makers in return for Dell’s agreement not to market any products from Advanced Micro Devices, Intel’s major competitor
- Intel threatened HP that it would derail development of a server technology on which HP’s future business depended if HP promoted products from AMD
- Intel paid HP hundreds of millions of dollars in rebates in return for HP’s agreement to cap HP’s sales of AMD-based products at 5% of its business desktop PCs
- Intel paid IBM $130 million not to launch an AMD-based server product
- Intel threatened to pull funding for joint projects that benefited IBM if IBM marketed AMD-based server products
The AG’s office also offered examples of instances where PC makers agreed to go along with Intel’s practices, specifically a 2006 deal between HP and Intel that involved payment of $925 million to HP to increase Intel’s shares of HP’s sales at AMD’s expense and a collaboration between Intel and Dell to market microprocessors and servers at prices below cost to “deprive AMD of strategically important competitive successes.”
However, the AG positions the PC makers as victims here, not collaborators. For example, the AG’s office offers these examples, unveiled as part of its 20-month investigation:
- Internal e-mail from IBM executive in January 2005: “I understand the point about the accounts wanting a full AMD portfolio. The question is, can we afford to accept the wrath of Intel…?”
- Internal e-mail from HP executive in June 2004 after HP defied Intel and launched an AMD product: “Intel has told us that HP’s announcement on Opteron [AMD’s server chip] has cost them several $B [Billions] and they plan to ‘punish’ HP for doing this.”
- Internal Dell e-mail in February 2004 regarding the possibility of Dell ending its exclusive relationship with Intel: “PSO/CRB [Intel CEO Paul Ottelini and Intel Chairman Craig Barrett] are prepared for jihad if Dell joins the AMD exodus.
- Internal e-mail from Intel executive in April 2006: “Let’s talk more on the phone as it’s so difficult for me to write or explain without considering anti-trust issue.”
October 28th, 2009
Intel, Numonyx claim memory breakthrough
Intel and Numonyx said Wednesday that they have found a way to stack phase change memory (PCM) arrays of on one die.
Phase change memory is a new non-volatile technology that features some of the best aspects of various memory types (think DRAM and Flash).
The companies said that the ability to stack PCM means that devices with more memory capacity, lower power consumption and space savings are possible. Numonyx is a flash memory specialist founded by Intel, STMicroelectronics and Francisco Partners.
According to Intel and Numonyx (statement), the companies will present its findings in a joint paper titled “A Stackable Cross Point Phase Change Memory.” The paper will be presented at the 2009 International Electron Devices Meeting in Baltimore, Md. on Dec. 9.
Also see: Samsung’s ‘melting’ memory chips could boost mobile phone battery life by 20%
October 22nd, 2009
Intel's Otellini: Strong second half; recovery coming in 2010
Intel CEO Paul Otellini took the stage at the Web 2.0 Summit today and kicked off the conversation with some good economic news: “We found bottom,” he said, and it was discovered earlier than anyone might have thought.
“It’s been a strong second half and it’s not corporate,” he said, “It’s consumer. And it’s China.”
Otellini didn’t sound like he was making projections about a turnaround - at least for the PC and server industries - in 2010. Instead, he spoke as if it was fact. The bottom line is that the machines being used in corporations today are old - on average, a desktop is five years old and a notebook is 4. Those machines won’t run Windows 7 or the latest security software. And, more importantly, those machines are out of warranty and are costing more to keep than to replace.
CFOs understand that and are ready to make the investments in hardware, he said. In fact, IT is high on the spending lists because it’s viewed as a tool of productivity. In the U.S., some of the corporate spending will stem from an understanding about the new efficiencies that are in place - especially in the data centers. Today’s servers perform better, are more efficient and have greater capacity. Yes, budgets are still clamped down but that will change next year.
As for the growth in China, that partially stems from a stimulus package that penetrated its economy faster than the stimulus packages being launched in the U.S. The United States pace has slowed and Otellini said other countries are no longer waiting for the U.S. to take first steps in technology investments - they’re moving forward on their own.
Otellini said he’s also watching a few other topics in Washington, including tax deferral policies, corporate tax rates and R&D tax credits. He’s also a fan of patent reform, “which is just a mess right now.” Reform discussions seem to have stalled, he said, but he’d like to see the topic come back to center stage.
He wants to see the “trolling” taken out of patents and go back to a time when people created things and them used patents to protect then, instead of people trying to use them as a tool for extortion.
October 13th, 2009
Analysts interested in Intel's 2010, not just Q4
The big buzz word in technology these days is efficiency. And even the quarterly earnings conference calls aren’t immune from some change. Intel today altered the process a bit today when it issued its CFO’s summary of the company’s third quarter financials (PDF) ahead of the call, leaving more time for questions from analysts.
I have to admit that I thought Wall Street analysts would want to know more about the launch of Windows 7 in the fourth quarter and the holiday season. Instead, they want to know what’s up for 2010, which is fast becoming the Year of Recovery. Analysts questions are all over the place in an earnings call but here’s a bullet point sampling of the types of things analysts are asking:
- Has there been any notable impact on the supply chain because of Windows 7 arrival? The short answer is that there is excitement around Windows 7 but that the recent upticks stem in part from a trend driven by consumer sales of notebooks - and that’s expected to stay on track for Q4. As for the corporate side, the feeling is that companies will spend the quarter testing and evaluating Windows 7 in their environments this quarter but that refresh purchases won’t kick in until 2010.
- So businesses aren’t buying now? Intel say it is seeing some movement on the corporate side for servers - but not clients - or PCs - just yet. There’s a broad assumption that Intel will companies will undergo a refresh in 2010 - but the big question is when, in 2010, will they open their checkbooks. The fact of the matter is that some of these XP machines that were kept in service because of a Vista bypass are old now and are costing more to keep - what with maintenance costs, out-of-warranty costs an security upgrades - than it would to replace it.
- What is the outlook for Atom in 2010? Netbooks are growing and will continue to grow. But the uptick trend in notebook sales have proven that the notebook market is alive and well and that the belief that netbooks are more of an “additive” to, as opposed to a replacement for, notebooks.
- Will budget line items, such as R&D spending, that were previously cut be replenished as things improve? The company said cuts are pretty much history now and that the job at-hand is to improve spending as a percentage of revenue. The company will definitely be smaller next year because of cuts but that the next focus on the “growth phase of the efficiency effort.
October 13th, 2009
Intel's third quarter powered by inventory builds, back-to-school demand; Outlook bright
Updated: Intel’s third quarter earnings and revenue handily topped estimates and the company said it was “confident about our business prospects going forward.” Intel added that its fourth quarter revenue would come in ahead of projections.
Specifically, Intel on Tuesday reported net income of $1.9 billion, or 33 cents a share, on sales of $9.4 billion, down from $10.2 billion in the same quarter a year ago. Wall Street was looking for earnings of 28 cents on revenue of $9.06 billion.
As for the outlook, Intel projected fourth quarter revenue of $10.1 billion, give or take $400 million. Wall Street was expecting Intel to deliver fourth quarter sales of $9.52 billion. Intel also projected fourth quarter gross margins of 62 percent, ahead of the 56.86 percent estimate.
In a statement, Intel CEO Paul Otellini said that the company has strong momentum. “This momentum in the current economic climate, plus our product leadership, gives us confident about our business prospects going forward,” said Otellini.
In prepared remarks ahead of the company’s conference call, Intel CFO Stacy Smith said back-to-school sales and inventory builds ahead of a seasonally strong fourth quarter contributed to results. Revenue from the Atom processor was “better than seasonal patterns on higher volume and slightly lower average selling prices.”
Indeed, Intel is faring well in the downturn. The company said it delivered record chip and chipset units, gross margins of 57.6 percent (estimate: 54.7 percent), and inventories that were down $315 million from the second quarter. Meanwhile, all of Intel’s units showed sequential improvement.
One nit: Intel’s average selling prices for chips were “slightly down” sequentially.
updated: During a conference cal with analysts, Otellini said the strong quarter was the result of having “the right products at the right costs at the right times for a recovering global economy.” Specifically, he said the notebook business continued to be a “primary driver of revenue growth” and that trend is expected to continue.
As a breakout, he also noted that the business in the U.S. was largely driven by consumers and that sales during the back-to-school season exceeded company expectations.
- Intel ended the quarter with 80,800 employees, down from 83,500 a year ago.
- 57 percent of Intel’s revenue ($5.32 billion) derived from Asia Pacific. A year ago, Intel’s Asia Pacific revenue was $5.39 billion, or 53 percent of revenue. The Americas accounted for 19 percent of third quarter revenue followed by Europe (14 percent) and Japan (10 percent).
- The company ended the quarter with total cash investments of $12.93 billion.
And Intel by the unit:
October 1st, 2009
Nvidia: Next big supercomputer player?
Nvidia unveiled its next-generation graphics processing unit (GPU) architecture, dubbed Fermi, and announced a key supercomputing win with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The takeaway: Graphics and visualization are becoming key to scientific discoveries. And Nvidia could be a major player. Oak Ridge’s supercomputer will be used for research in energy and climate change and is expected to be 10 times more powerful than today’s fastest supercomputer (statement).
Fermi, announced at Nvidia’s GPU Technology developer’s conference (statement), is a new architecture designed to deliver computational GPUs. The game for Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang is to make his company more than just a graphics chip player.
Fermi will have tools for large data center deployments, 512 CUDA Cores and a host of other goodies including NVIDIA Parallel DataCache, which speeds up algorithims for physics solvers and raytracing.
September 25th, 2009
Intel Developer Forum: The top 9 takeaways
The Intel Developer Forum wrapped up and there are a few weeks worth of presentations, keynotes and technical sessions to mull over. In the meantime, here are my top takeaways from IDF.
1. Intel is increasingly about software.
In recent months, Intel has acquired Wind River, advanced Moblin, a Linux-based operating system, and increasingly talked up software on its way toward 10 software related acquisitions.
At IDF (see special report), Intel highlighted Moblin in action:
Goldman Sachs James Covello noted Moblin’s importance:
The company demonstrated Moblin working with Ubuntu, the free Linux based operating system which aims to be a Windows alternative in several markets. While we believe that there are direct benefits to Intel’s efforts to optimize Moblin for x86, we believe the program is strategic as well. Historically, Intel has aggressively defended its position against potential competitors in its core microprocessor business. Recall that it entered the NOR flash, NAND, and GPU businesses when there was concern about current or future competitive MPU products from AMD, Samsung, and Nvidia, respectively. With Qualcomm now making a push with its Snapdragon product into the low-cost PC space and with the potential for Microsoft to port Windows to ARM-based platforms in the future, we believe Intel could potentially devote even more resources to Moblin in order to help deter Microsoft from supporting Windows on ARM.
Meanwhile, Renee James, vice president and general manager of Intel’s software and services group, gave some details on the chipmaker’s grand plans for Wind River. James said Wind River will operate as an independent subsidiary and Intel will support non-Intel gear. Wind River will run on all Intel-based platforms.
2. Intel is serious about solid-state drives in the data center.
September 24th, 2009
Intel unveils the Net-savvy CE4100
At the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, Eric Kim, senior vice president at Intel, revealed a new Atom-based CE4100 chip. It is designed to bring Internet content and services to digital TVs, DVD players, and advanced set-top boxes by integrating different processors to handle graphics, displays, networking, and video decoding.
September 24th, 2009
3D football, anyone? Intel offers peek at 21st Century television
TV isn’t TV anymore. It’s out of the box. It’s off the wall and it’s not going back anytime soon.
That was the opening line of the final keynote at the Intel Developer Forum, delivered by Intel exec Justin Rattner, who took to the stage to talk about the future of TV. At last year’s IDF, Yahoo and Intel sparked some interest with their demos of Widget TV, which will bring an app-like experience to the living room screen. This year, the focus was around a couple of other topics, including multiple devices, customization, social interaction and the coming of 3D viewing.
It’s pretty much a given that a 21st Century television experience is on the horizon. Rattner pointed out some stats: by 2015, expect to see 500 billion hours of video content on the cloud and 12 billion devices capable of receiving “TV” content via the Internet. The devices part is important to remember, especially as it relates back to the continuum that Intel CEO Paul Otellini referenced in the opening keynote earlier this week.
The idea is that the video viewing experience should be the same whether you’re watching on a TV, laptop, iPhone or some other sort of mobile Internet device, or MID. Developers and content creators shouldn’t have to worry about the platform, Otellini said. The technology should allow the content to recognize the platform and adjust accordingly. But Intel has visions of taking the interaction between TV and mobile devices a step further.
September 24th, 2009
Microsoft's new version of Silverlight on Moblin [video]
At the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, Microsoft General Manager Ian Ellison-Taylor and Intel General Manager Renee James show attendees Silverlight 3 running on an Atom-based Moblin device. The new software will run on mobile Linux Netbooks, phone as early as 2010.
September 23rd, 2009
IDF: 09: A look at smart signs and digital slot machines
At the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, Executive Vice President Sean Maloney demonstrates some new embedded technologies. He shows off a new digital billboard and virtual slot machine that can be remotely managed and reprogrammed on the fly using Intel’s vPro processor technology.
September 23rd, 2009
Intel on laptop chips: Speed kills
Intel today announced its Core i7 Mobile Processor for laptop computers, as well as an “Extreme Edition” version designed for gaming machines. The company, though, isn’t just touting the improved processor clock speed - which is 75 percent faster through the use of Intel’s Turbo Boost Technology.
Instead, the company is emphasizing the hyper-threading technology that gives performance a boost while the computer is processing multiple, resource-heavy applications. From the company’s announcement:
The new Intel Core i7 mobile processors also include two-channel DDR3 1333 MHz memory support and full 1 x16 or 2 x8 PCI Express* 2.0 graphics. Whether users are editing a video, composing a song, playing a video game or updating their Facebook* status with the latest YouTube* video craze, Intel Core i7 mobile processors adapt to provide the right processing power for the task, with more performance and flexibility to match their on-the-go needs.
PC makers Asus, Dell, HP and Toshiba are among those that began shipping laptops today based on the Core i7 mobile processor, previously codenamed “Clarksfield.”
September 23rd, 2009
Intel's Moblin demo looks promising
Intel’s open-source Moblin operating system is a work in progress, but looks like it’s coming together well.
At the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, Intel product manager Claire Alexander shows Intel CEO Paul Otellini a demo Moblin, which will include next-generation mobile features such as a touch-screen interface.
Here’s a look:
The big question is whether Moblin can get traction. The operating system competition is fierce.
September 22nd, 2009
Windows 7 gadgets on display at IDF
At the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, Intel CEO Paul Otellini shows off some new consumer devices optimized to run Intel processors and various versions of Windows 7. He also looks at the company’s next-generation microprocessor, Sandy Bridge, running on Windows 7.
Sam Diaz: Otellini at IDF: Innovation shifts as technology grows beyond the PC
September 22nd, 2009
Intel's Maloney: Enhanced technology can address demands of new data center
At the afternoon keynote at the Intel Developer Forum, Executive VP Sean Maloney took some time to talk about what Intel is doing to address the needs of the enterprise and the changing data center.
The reality, he said, is that the data center is undergoing a major transformation these days and that three elements - computing, storage and networking - are beginning to overlap, meaning that you can’t really address one without considering the others.
At the same time, data centers are becoming more diverse. There’s no longer a one-size-fits-all way of dealing with data centers. Some are designed to power a small- to medium-sized business or remote office, while others might be powering a communications center or a cloud or a full infrastructure.
But Maloney points out that the each of these data centers have common requirements - performance, energy efficiency and virtualization. “All the underlying technical challenges are the same,” Maloney said. To address them, Intel next year will launch Tukwila, which is built on the Itanium family of processors, as well as performance enhancements to Nehalem, which is built on Xeon.
Maloney also touched on security and the enhancements that will come with the launch of the Westmere 32nm die-shrink of Nehalem. He noted that there are people out there who are trying to “crack transactions on the Internet” and do other bad stuff and that Intel is building directly into the architecture the technology that customers need to be better protect themselves.
“As Westmere moves in, the infrastructure will be there to do more secure transactions across the Internet, on the client and on the server,” Maloney said.
Beyond that, Maloney also touched on the client side and even had some fun on the stage to show what sort of technologies could be deployed in a Las Vegas-style, computerized slot machine.
The touch-screen machine would not only be smart enough to switch from slots to roulette or other games but also recognize a player and even allow him to order a drink. (That’s my kind of slot machine.) And so, Maloney pressed the “play” button and watched as the wheels begin to spin and he hit the 7s for a jackpot.
Maloney slot machine demo is a lot like Intel’s thinking about the future of chip technology. Both have been programmed to win.
More from IDF:
September 22nd, 2009
Intel's Maloney to talk servers, data centers
Intel’s Sean Maloney doesn’t take the stage for about another hour at the Intel Developer Forum, but we do know he’s going to give server chips a little love.
Here’s what Maloney, executive vice president and co-general manager of Intel Corporation’s Intel Architecture Group (IAG), will say according to an early release by Intel obtained by ZDNet UK’s Rupert Goodwins:
Nehalem-EX will be better than the Xeon 5500 by an even greater margin than the 5500 was from its predecessors. Today’s hot enterprise fashion, the converged datacentre, gets some new fabric based on Intel’s 10GbE networking, there’ll be a Xeon 3000 ultra-low voltage server chip running at 30w thermal envelope, a new ‘micro-server’ reference platform, more stuff on Jasper Forest embedded media/CE processor, and a vPro KVM remote control.
Nice to see Maloney give some enterprise love. The rest of his talk focuses on enthusiast chips for gaming and some graphic show-and-tell.
More IDF:
September 22nd, 2009
Otellini at IDF: Innovation shifts as technology grows beyond the PC
Someday, I’d like to be able to stream music while swimming. I’d also like to be able to watch a movie premiere - from my car. And wouldn’t it be cool if there was technology that allowed computers to fix themselves.
No one is saying that Intel will build the technology platform to make these sort of things happen anytime soon. But the imagination that creates new technologies is limitless and that’s what keeps Intel innovating for the future.
Also see: Intel teases 22 nanometer chips
Credit: Stephen Shankland, CNet News
During the opening keynote speech at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, CEO and chairman Paul Otellini left attendees with a simple message: we’ll keep innovating on the technology front and you keep building the next big things. In fact, he drove home the message that, through standards technology, Intel wants developers to be able to just build once, not for multiple platforms.
The keynote was centered around the idea of changing demands, a continuum of technology if you will. It used to be, Otellini said, that everything was centered around the PC. Today, that’s no longer the case, The market has shifted and grown and the needs for computing power is everywhere. There are consumer gadgets such as netbooks, portable gaming devices and web-enabled handhelds. But there are also devices that are mission-critical in the medical field, features that are driving change in the automotive industry, demands for digital signage and even an interest in new technology for Las Vegas slot machines.
It’s a different time now, he said. It used to be that chip technology was focused around speed, size and improved battery life. Today, the differentiators in products come in the form of bandwidth usage, user interface and, yes, even the ability to tweet. The devices that people use - whether a smartphone or a netbook or even a plasma-screen television - all need to work together in a seamless fashion. And the key, he said, is the software.
“The software binds this continuum together,” Otellini said. “It removes the barrier.”
Over the past couple of years, Intel has acquired ten companies in the software area to get the tools that allow developers to do more. And with the arrival of Windows 7 next month, the public will finally experience the innovation that’s been going on behind the scenes - faster bootups and better power management, among other things.
Otellini called Windows 7 a “first-class operating system” that could help spark a resurgence in the tech industry. Netbooks built on the Atom processor and the interest in them has been “astounding, a growth driver for Intel and the industry.” He envisions the industry continuing to grow - and evolve - with the arrival of Windows 7, the continued interest in mobile devices and the limitless imagination of the developer who is destined to build the next big thing.
September 22nd, 2009
Intel teases 22 nanometer chips
Intel CEO Paul Otellini showed off the first working chips using 22 nanometer process technology. These 22nm manufacturing techniques will be the basis for future chips from Intel in the second half of 2011.
Credit: Stephen Shankland, CNet News
Speaking at the Intel Developer Forum, Otellini said that the 22nm chips show how “Moore’s Law is alive.” For reference, Intel just began production on 32nm chips. The chip giant’s game plan is clear: Use manufacturing prowess to beat rivals over the head.
To do that, Otellini said the company is focusing on the technology continuum - the process that has prompted the company to shift its focus from technology for the personal computer to other devices: netbooks, mobile phones, mobile Internet device, in-vehicle infotainment and more.
“While Moore’s law is very predictable, this continuum is not,” he said.
The 22nm wafer has 364 million bits of SRAM memory and 2.9 billion transistors. The whole thing is the size of a fingernail. Otellini says we can expect to see it in the second half of 2011 - though he did create a photo opportunity from the stage by holding up a 22nm wafer. There’s been significant design work already, he said.
Other big takeaways from Otellini’s keynote:
- Intel’s Westmere processors will move into revenue production in the fourth quarter.
- Intel plans to introduce Sandy Bridge, Intel’s new microarchitecture. Sandy Bridge will feature a graphics core and processor core on the same die.
- The company announced a program to allow developers to create applications once and have them run on Windows and Moblin devices.
September 21st, 2009
EC ramps up PR war with Intel (by publishing 518 page decision)
The European Commission has an answer to Intel’s contention that it made a bevy of errors in fining it $1.45 billion for anti-competitive behavior against rival AMD: It published all of its evidence.
The EC, the regulatory watchdog of the European Union (EU), published its entire ruling (statement, Techmeme, ZDNet UK). Intel obviously still has problems with the EC’s ruling, but the European regulators figured it was best to throw the decision to the public and let folks decide for themselves. The game: The EC wants to win in the court of public opinion too.
Among the key highlights:
- Intel rebates to Dell from December 2002 to 2005 were based on Dell buying Intel chips exclusively.
- HP had to buy 95 percent of its CPUs from Intel to get rebates from November 2002 to May 2005.
- NEC had to buy 80 percent of its CPUs from Intel if it wanted rebates between October 2002 and November 2005.
- And there’s a lot more deals in the EC’s filing that regulators argue Intel concealed.
ZDNet UK: EC reveals details of Intel antitrust breaches
But here’s the problem. There’s no way to make heads or tails of the EC’s filing. For starters, it’s massive. And if you scan a few pages you quickly get to a situation of “EC said, Intel said.”
What is clear is that the EC and Intel are taking their legal fight public in a big way. The key snippets revolve around Dell’s rebate deal with Intel. Intel argues that Dell’s documents show Intel exerted no pressure on the PC maker. The EC argues otherwise and released the following snippets (page 66 starts a bevy of footnotes about the Intel-Dell relationship):
Dell, which until September 2006 was an Intel-exclusive x86 CPU purchaser, explicitly pointed out to Intel how AMD was a growing threat to their own products: “AMD is a great threat to our business. Intel is increasingly uncompetitive to AMD which results in Dell being uncompetitive to [Dell competitors]. We have slower, hotter products that cost more across the board in the enterprise with no hope of closing the performance gap for 1-2 years”.
In an internal Dell e-mail of 26 February 2004, it is stated: “Boss, here’s an outline of the framework we discussed with Intel. (…) Intel is ready to send [Intel senior executive]/[Intel executive] /[Intel executive] to meet with [Dell Senior Executive]/[Dell Senior Executive]/[Dell Executive] . (…) Background: *[Intel senior executive]/[Intel senior executive] are prepared for [all-out war] if Dell joins the AMD exodus. We get ZERO MCP for at least one quarter while Intel ‘investigates the details’ (…) We’ll also have to bite and scratch to even hold 50%, including a commitment to NOT ship in Corporate. If we go in Opti, they cut it to <20% and use the added MCP to compete against us.”
Dell submitted to the Commission that “during the 2003-2005 time-frame”, the “MCP arrangement was not explicitly conditioned on exclusivity or minimum volume commitments. At the same time, it was negotiated against the historical backdrop of Dell products being based solely on Intel processors.” Dell has further specified that it “believed that, as Intel’s largest customer, it was able to
obtain a higher level of discounts than its competitors (although this could not be objectively verified).”
Those comments, which are really just an appetizer, either illustrate some mass conspiracy or a great deal for Dell since it distributed millions of Intel chips. The best move to handle this huge filing is to search the PDF based by PC vendor name—Acer, Lenovo, HP etc.—and read some juicy nuggets.
Happy reading.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
For daily updates, follow Larry on Twitter.
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- Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online - Free Six-Month Trial for Eligible Organizations
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White Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads
- The Impact of Virtualization Software on Operating Environments VMware Today's use of virtualization technology allows IT professionals to ... Download Now
- Five Steps to Determine When to Virtualize YourServers VMware Server virtualization isn't just for big companies. Entry-level ... Download Now
- The True Costs of Virtual Server Solutions VMware In an economic environment that is repeatedly heralding the message "do ... Download Now
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- How to Drive Better Business Outcomes with Exceptional Web Experiences Download the eBook
- Driving Business Agility through SOA Connectivity & Integration Read the White Paper from IBM
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