Bad day for Intel

Today must not be a good day for Intel at all. It's shares dropped by 5% in a single day as a result of hardly any profits for 2006 Q4 and further warnings of lackluster performance in the future quarters. Although it's new Core2 processors are doing exceedingly well in the market, it's chipset products aren't. And since it has started a price war against AMD, even if the products sell well, the profits are thin. Nothing looks to change in the near future either.

Then, came the news that the European Commission is about to file formal antitrust charges against Intel. This comes from a complaint by AMD in 2000 that resulted in an investigation. It seems that the investigators have found enough proof to nail Intel. The complaint alleged that Intel had used co-marketing funds and rebates to drive competition out of the market. In 2005, Intel's offices were raided by EU investigators.

If the EC decide to press charges, we can expect it to progress as swiftly as the Microsoft saga. If found to be guilty, goodness knows how much fines the EC will levy at Intel. Microsoft was fined millions each day on top of an initial half a billion dollar fine. All this can't possibly be good news for Intel. I wonder how this will affect the microprocessor industry.

AMD can only profit from it's law suit. That's what I said when AMD first filed it's suit. To AMD, it's a win-win situation either way. If found guilty, Intel will have to pay the price. If found not guilty, Intel would still be forced to change it's business tactics. So, it's win-win for AMD either way.

* fair use image from wikipedia *