EU conducts antitrust raid on Intel, retailers

By David Lawsky

SAN FRANCICSO (Reuters) - The European Commission conducted antitrust raids against Intel Corp's Munich offices on Tuesday and against retailers selling products of the world's largest chip maker, the Commission and the chip maker said.

The European Union watchdog's actions ratcheted up pressure on Intel and broke new ground by raiding Germany's huge Media Markt-Saturn, British electrical goods retailer DSG International Plc, which owns Dixons and Currys, and France's PPR, owner of retailer Fnac.

Carrefour, another prominent French retailer, declined to say if it had been raided.

Intel has been preparing for a Brussels hearing on March 11 and 12 to answer pending charges it abused its dominance of the market for central processing units (CPUs) at the heart of every PC.

"Commission officials carried out unannounced inspections at the premises of a manufacturer of central processing units and a number of personal computer retailers," said Jonathan Todd, a Commission spokesman.

He said the Commission, accompanied by local law enforcement staff, conducted the raids because it had reason to believe the companies "may have violated EC (European Community) Treaty rules on restrictive business practices and/or abuse of a dominant market position."

Intel confirmed the raids.

"There has been a raid on our offices in Munich. As is our normal practice, we are cooperating with authorities," said Chuck Mulloy, a spokesman for the chip maker.