Intel Says the FTC Is Investigating Its Business Practices

Intel Corp., the computer chip maker, said Friday that the Federal Trade Commission has begun an investigation into its business practices.

Intel said it was notified in a letter received Thursday that the FTC is investigating alleged anti-competitive business practices. Intel has long held a virtual monopoly on the chips that form the brain inside most personal computers.

Competitors and some customers have complained about the way in which the company allocates the chips, which have at times been in short supply.

Cyrix Corp., a Texas vendor of specialized chips that speed PC performance, has filed an antitrust suit alleging that Intel has used its monopoly to intimidate customers out of buying the Cyrix product.

Intel general counsel Thomas Dunlap said the FTC had asked for documents from a long-running arbitration with Advanced Micro Devices, a breach-of-contract dispute revolving around AMD’s efforts to produce a chip similar to Intel’s popular 386 microprocessor.

“Given Intel’s position as a key supplier of components to the computer industry, we’ve had an aggressive program in place to make sure that our business practices deal fairly and equitably with our customers and are in compliance with antitrust laws,” Intel said in a prepared statement.