Federal Trade Commission meddelade under gårdagen att man fortskrider med sina rättsliga åtgärder mot halvledarjätten Intel. Trots att rivalen AMD svalde stoltheten och gjorde upp i godo lyckades Intel inte övertyga FTC om att lägga ner sina undersökningar och nu har organet skickat en officiell stämningsansökan som Intel själva var snabba att motsätta sig.
Det kanske mest intressanta i stämningsansökan var den stora vikt som även lades vid Intels handlingar på GPU-marknaden. Där även Nvidia är i högsta grad inblandade.
Nvidias vd Jen Hsun Huang med vad som sades vara ett Fermi-grafikkort
Intel anklagades för att ha jobbat mot en monopolliknande verksamhet även på GPU-marknaden och med otillåtna medel hållt Nvidia och AMDs produkter utanför marknaden.
Nvidias frispråkiga vd Jen Hsun Huang har i ett internt brev till företagets anställda öppet förklarat att FTCs stämningsansökan kan vara början på en ny marknadssituation. Här nedan finns brevet att läsa i sin helhet.
The U.S. government announced today that it has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Intel. This is an action the industry needs and one that consumers deserve. And its one that can completely transform the computer industry.
The facts are clear. The FTC has charged that Intel has used its monopoly illegally to stifle innovation, to keep prices for their products inflated, and to unfairly block competitors. The FTC believes that millions of consumers have paid more and received less quality in returnand that companies and their employees have been forced out of markets where Intel has been threatened.
Intel is fully aware that great graphics have become one of the most important features for consumer PCs, the fastest-growing segment of the PC market. Even more alarming to Intel is the revolutionary parallel computing technology in our GPUs that is being adopted by software developers across the world. The more successful we became, the bigger threat we were to Intels monopoly. Instead of creating competitive GPU solutions and competing on the merits of their products, Intel has resorted to unlawful acts to stop us. The FTC announced today that this isnt acceptable.
Nothing this complicated gets decided quickly. It will take months for the FTC case to be heard by an administrative judge who will then recommend a ruling back to the FTC. And its possible that this decision could be appealed. But today is a huge step forward for all of us that will begin to re-level the playing field.
Todays FTC announcement highlights the industry-changing impact of the GPU and the importance of our work. Our innovation is making the PC magical and amazing again. I can now imagine the day when Intel can no longer block consumers from enjoying our creation and experience computing in a way we know is possible.
Även om målet inte väntas tas upp i domstol förrän under andra halvan av nästa år och lär bollas i domstolar under betydligt längre tid än så finns det nu en ljusning för övriga tillverkare menar Jen Hsun.
Källa: Digital Daily
