Intel Corp raided on possible violations

COMPUTER chip maker Intel Corp, computer makers and distributors were raided by European Commission and local authorities on Tuesday as part of an investigation into possible antitrust violations, a spokesperson for the European Union executive said.

The commission’s escalation came as Intel’s smaller rival, Advanced Micro Devices, was trying to ratchet up pressure on the chip maker, which has 90% of world sales of microprocessors for personal computers that run Microsoft Windows and Linux.

EU “competition officials, accompanied by officials from national competition authorities, are conducting inspections of several premises of Intel Corp in Europe as well as a number of IT firms manufacturing or selling computers,” Commission spokesperson Jonathan Todd said.