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Mar 17, 2008
On January 10, 2008, the state of New York took action in the United States on behalf of American consumers in light of Intel’s anticompetitive behavior that has inflated prices and slowed innovation throughout the microprocessor sector. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo served Intel with a “wide-ranging” subpoena seeking documents and information to investigate allegations that Intel is violating state and federal antitrust laws by coercing retailers to exclude computers and electronics running on the Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) series of x86 microprocessor chips. In short, Intel is paying and pressuring computer manufacturers to boycott AMD. Cuomo’s move comes as no surprise to close observers of the worldwide scrutiny of Intel’s anticompetitive actions. Intel’s behavior is not confined to New York; from Japan to South Korea to Europe, antitrust investigations into Intel’s practices are discovering sophisticated patterns of anti-consumer and anticompetitive behavior.