Intel’s practice of awarding rebates to certain customers is now under investigation in Korea following similar investigations by the fair trade authorities of the EC and Japan.
In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Intel stated: "In June 2005, Intel received an inquiry from the Korea Fair Trade Commission requesting documents from Intel’s Korean subsidiary related to marketing and rebate programmes Intel entered into with Korean PC manufacturers.
"Intel is cooperating with these agencies in their investigations and expects that these matters will be acceptably resolved."
Earlier this year, the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) found that Intel had paid money to NEC, Toshiba, Sony, Hitachi and Fujitsu to get them to boycott the microprocessors of rival supplier AMD.
In Europe, a series of raids on Intel offices and on the premises of companies manufacturing and selling computers have accompanied an investigation into the company’s rebate practices which the EC regards as being potentially anti-competitive.
An EC official told Electronics Weekly: "It’s a bit like the case we had with Coca-Cola, who were offering customers fridges on condition they would only put Coca-Cola in them."
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