The FTC sued microprocessor giant Intel yesterday, alleging the company had engaged in illegal sales tactics for the past 10 years, relying on backroom strongarming instead of over technical innovation to maintain market dominance.

The FTC says Intel used rebates and threats of vengeance to dissuade HP, Dell, and IBM from using AMD microprocessors. “The complaint also alleges Intel improperly bundled sales of microprocessors with its chip sets and made it hard for rivals to connect to its newer products, hurting Nvidia. The FTC also said Intel secretly redesigned programs called compilers to hurt the performance of software running on non-Intel chips,” wrote the WSJ.

Intel called the case “misguided” and vowed to fight back. Nvidia said it was “pleased to see scrutiny being placed on Intel’s behavior” and AMD said the FTC’s actions were “good news for consumers.”

U.S. Sues Intel Alleging Market Abuses [WSJ]

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