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Intel ordered to pay US$25.4 million in antitrust probe in South Korea
South Korea's antitrust regulator said on Thursday it will order Intel Corp. to pay 26 billion won (US$25.4 million) for violating fair trade rules.
- AP
- Published: 14:14 June 5, 2008
Seoul: South Korea's antitrust regulator said on Thursday it will order Intel Corp. to pay 26 billion won (US$25.4 million) for violating fair trade rules.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission said in a statement on Thursday that it was issuing the order because the semiconductor giant offered rebates to South Korean computer companies to undercut competitor Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
Intel immediately criticised the ruling and said it would consider its options, including a possible appeal.
"We're disappointed and we completely disagree with the findings," Bruce Sewell, Intel senior vice president and general counsel, said in Seoul.
The KFTC last year charged Intel with violating South Korean antitrust laws after completing a two-year probe.
The commission said that Intel provided rebates to Samsung Electronics Co. and other South Korean computer makers to not use central processing units, or CPUs, manufactured by AMD, Intel's main competitor.
Samsung spokesman Lee Soo-jeong said the company had no comment.
The company, based in Santa Clara, California, has faced numerous legal battles over how it maintains its market position. The company has repeatedly denied breaking any laws.
Intel's Sewell said that the company would wait for the issuance of an official outcome from the commission, which could take between 30 and 60 days, before deciding a course of action.
Details of the ruling could change during that period.
He said Intel has the option to request a reconsideration to the commission, though could also seek a court ruling.
The commission ordered Intel to stop using rebates to encourage South Korean companies not to use the CPUs of AMD and thereby maintain its market share.
"To ask us to cease and desist behavior which we are not doing and never have done is odd," said Intel spokesman Nick Jacobs. "We don't use rebates in an anticompetitive fashion."
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