Life Of Navin

Well, the Koreans are at it again!! The last time it was because of the new music format (MT9) researchers in South Korea had developed, but now its because the same country's antitrust regulators have that they will fine Intel 26 billion won (roughly $25.4 million) for abusing its dominant position in the local chip market.

The Korea Fair Trade Commission said in its statement that the chip giant had offered rebates to two PC makers in South Korea in return for "Not buying processors from Advanced Micro Devices". You may know that AMD is one of Intel's prime rivals.

Bruce Sewell, general counsel for Intel, criticized the ruling, and told the Wall Street Journal that the company is likely to appeal the KFTC's ruling. "The conduct they're seeking to attack is the conduct at the heart of competition. It is offering lower prices in order to sell your products," he said.

The charges are similar to the ones the European Commision had slapped on Intel , when the commission also alleged that the chip giant violated antitrust laws by abusing its dominant market position.The KFTC charged Intel with violating South Korean antitrust laws last year after completing a two-year probe. With the Intel-AMD battle heating up and the launch of Atom by Intel and launch of Puma by AMD , which both target the same market, the heat is sure to blow the roof away!!