Have you heard about NY State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s lawsuit against Intel? Cuomo is alleging that Intel has engaged in anti-competitive practices which have prevented other companies (primarily AMD) from selling their products, and PC makers from using them in their machines.
My own opinion, detailed in this post, is that Cuomo is doing a bit of grandstanding here in his zeal to continue the NYS AG office’s activist role, established when Elliot Spitzer still held that office. I am a registered Democrat and I don’t think activism is bad. But I beg to differ with Cuomo’s position that the chip industry and the CPU market are uncompetitive and that the NY State consumer has thus been harmed.
AMD has made a business out of building, in effect, Intel x86-compatible CPUs, at competitive prices. And that’s good for competition and the market. When Intel’s initial strategy of (essentially) abandoning the x86 architecture in its 64-bit products hit the market, it failed, and AMD benefitted. AMD had excellent x64 products and their market presence forced Intel to counter with their own such offering, which ended up being even better. That’s how a competitive market is supposed to work! Now Intel has the Atom chip on the market and and is pushing them so aggressively, at such low prices, that they are actually taking away market share from their more expensive chips.
These are not the actions of a monopolist. Intel is innovating and giving consumers excellent products at compelling prices. Regulation is neither called for nor productive. In fact, regulation would inhibit the very innovation Cuomo says he wishes to emancipate.
Do you agree with my concerns? If so (and especially if you live in New York State), please consider signing this online petition (http://ga4.org/campaign/chipinnovation), from the Association for Competitive Technology (on whose Board of Directors I serve), to let Cuomo know how we feel.
Should you choose to sign, thanks for your support. And, either way, thanks for listening.