Anti-trust charges dropped against AMD
No possible fallout from ATI acquisition
By Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service | Published: 15:46, 13 October 2008
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is not to press criminal charges over the pricing and marketing strategies of graphics chipmaker ATI Technologies, now owned by AMD.
The DOJ has told AMD that the entire investigation is closed, said Michael Silverman, AMD spokesman.
The DOJ subpoenaed vendors AMD and Nvidia in late 2006 as part of an anti-itrust investigation into the market for graphics processors and graphics cards. The investigation came a month after AMD finished its acquisition of ATI.
The news is good for AMD, which has struggled financially in part due to the acquisition.
In July, AMD said it would take a charge in its second quarter of 2008 for $880 million related to ATI's former business units. The charges were related to impaired assets in ATI's former handheld and digital TV business units, which were merged into AMD's consumer electronics group after the acquisition.
AMD is due to report results for its third quarter of 2008 on Thursday after markets close.
