AMD CEO: Intel Is a Monopoly, Microsoft Isn't

[Babrbarossa]

You can only yang so much when the competitor's product is just plain better, although the price undercutting that has been going on at great expense to Intel might be considered to be monopolizing- I'm not sure what the regulations are though, but It seems to be AMD that started the whole drastic price cut maneuvers.

In a keynote address this morning to the American Antitrust Institute in Washington, D.C., AMD CEO Hector Ruiz gave attendees what he described as "an idea of what it's like to do business day in and day out when you are competing against an abusive monopolist." Although he also invoked the phrase "illegal monopoly," he left a convenient 846-word buffer zone between that phrase and his first invocation of the term "Intel."
"I do not need my fortune teller hat to tell you one truth about which I am absolutely certain," Ruiz told attendees, "There is no proper or defensible place for illegal monopolies in the 21st century global marketplace...My purpose is not to argue for competitive advantage - we know how to compete. My purpose is to lay out the facts so that law and economics can do their job to protect consumers."

When a certain unnamed monopolist is permitted to do business as it wishes, Ruiz explained, its competitors may be more efficient and more innovative, though it cannot form partnerships and engage in cooperation with other players in the market. "All of that yields the one outcome antitrust law is designed to prevent," he continued, "consumers suffering at the hands of a monopoly by being forced to pay higher prices for what are all-too-often inferior products."

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[Jmac]

I would've agreed with him from 2001 - 2006, but not now :P

[Eldonko]

IMO it's true. AMD cut their prices so drastically because they had to. Few are going to buy an inferior system in term of perf/$ unless it's cheaper. Intel followed suit so their products are still better (perf/$). Whether or not they are taking losses to run AMD out of business remains to be seen.

While it is great for consumers now, what if Intel runs AMD into the ground? Then they can jack their prices to whatever they want, R & D will slow, and we all lose.