Intel Charged With Antitrust Over Dell Payment
A $6 billion payment made by Intel Corporation to Dell Inc. over a five year period that ended in 2007 has resulted in the chip maker receiving Antitrust charges from the New York Attorney’s General Office.
The payments were made as part of a program called ‘MOAP’ (Mother of all Programs) and later ‘MCP’ (Meet Competition Payments).
According to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, these payments represented illegal rebates that helped Intel become a monopoly in the computer CPU market. Cuomo also alleged that these payments prevented Intel rival Advanced Micro Designs from making headway in the competitive world of PC manufacturing.
The charges by Cuomo mirror earlier allegations by the European Union. They charged Intel $1.45 billion for illegal rebates to Hewlett Packard and Dell.
Currently Intel says they did nothing wrong making these payments. Dell may be even more troubled by the scandal, considering the company has stated that they will be unable to meet their financial targets unless the payments from Intel are received.