Will FTC Lawsuit Against Intel Transform The Industry?

Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang has made no bones about celebrating the fact that the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) antitrust suit against Intel could have a transformative effect on the computer industry.

Huang suggested in an internal Nvidia memo obtained by several news outlets, that the FTC lawsuit could "completely transform the computer industry."

With so much legal attention being laser-focused on Intel these days, its major OEM partners -- PC titans like Hewlett-Packard and Acer -- have to be a little concerned.

The same goes for other chipmakers, like VIA Technologies, that according to the FTC have seen the negative effects of Intel's business practices first hand. Attempts to contact each of those companies by Everything Channel associate editor Damon Poeter turned up nothing but crickets on Wednesday.

Intel's rivals have suggested that Intel fears its CPU dominance is being challenged at a critical time in the history of computer graphics.

The FTC's complaint spells it out thus: "Intel has responded to this competitive challenge by embarking on a similar anticompetitive strategy, which aims to preserve its CPU monopoly by smothering potential competition from GPU chips such as those made by Nvidia."

Nvidia's Huang, for his part, sees the FTC complaint opening the door to a PC technology renaissance.

"Our innovation is making the PC magical and amazing again. I can now imagine the day when Intel can no longer block consumers from enjoying our creation and experience computing in a way we know is possible," Huang said in the internal Nvidia memo.

For its part, Intel said Wednesday that the FTC's case against it is "misguided" and, in a possible reference to Nvidia and its involvement with the complaint, "based largely on claims that the FTC added at the last minute and has not investigated." Intel is right to come out strong, of course -- the odds are the chip giant's in for a less than merry holiday season.

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