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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Larry Loeb who wrote (32160)	4/24/1998 2:54:00 PM
From: Kevin K. Spurway	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1583687

Larry, the FTC approval announcement stated: "Originally Digital had agreed to put production of the Alpha solely in the hands of Intel, which the FTC could have wound up, ''possibly endangering the continuing and future development of the Alpha technology.'' The FTC said it wanted to make certain ''that Intel does not have exclusive control over Alpha production.'' Under the modified agreement Digital must also license the Alpha technology to Advanced Micro Devices (AMD - news), and to Samsung Electronics (69500.KS)." So, you are right to ask--what exaclty is "Alpha technology"? Is it the right to make the chip, or is it the right to utilize the Alpha technology in other proprietary products? Seems unclear to me. More interesting to me is the proactive position the Commission seems prepared to take vis a vis Intel. Note the statement: "The decision was approved 5-0 by the commission. Still pending are two much bigger FTC inquiries.... Pitofsky, whose agency is investigating potentially anti-competitive marketing practices by Intel, said that the commission meant to protect consumer choice and encourage ''continued innovation in the market for microprocessors.''" Wonder what the Commission will do regarding these BIGGER INQUIRIES. Kevin