The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has started an antitrust investigation against Intel for anticompetitive conduct according to the New York Times on Friday which cited officials and attorneys involved.
The action was authorized by the new chairman of the FTC, William Kovacic. This decision reverses a previous stand by the former chairman Deborah Majoras who had been blocking the inquiry for months.
The Commission is looking into whether Intelis pricing policies have lead to a near monopoly in the microprocessor market.
Intel said it would cooperate with the FTC and released a statement that said: "The company believes its business practices are well within U.S. law. The evidence that this industry is fiercely competitive and working is compelling."
While it may be many months before the FTC decides to file a formal case against Intel, European and Asia regulators have already done so.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Intelis major competitor, has been seeking, via a public relations campaign, to convince U.S. and foreign regulators that Intelis pricing practices are anticompetitive.
Intel is now the sole supplier of CPUs for Appleis Macintosh line.