System Builders Weigh In On Intel's Alleged Antitrust Actions

From Channelweb:

Still others said the lawsuit reminded them of a time when AMD had the opportunity to be a much bigger player than it is today.

Todd Swank, vice president of marketing at Nor-Tech, a Burnsville, Minn.-based system builder, said AMD's processors at one time had better performance and ran cooler than Intel's products, and as a result AMD was growing in the early 2000s.

But in Swank's opinion, AMD's problems with maintaining growth were self-inflicted rather than caused by alleged pressure by Intel, at least as far as Nor-Tech was concerned. He claimed that AMD's 2006 acquisition of graphics chip maker ATI Technologies and a distribution deal with Dell signed that same year were more likely causes of AMD's fiscal and channel struggles, respectively.

"They did everything they shouldn't have done, and then started complaining about Intel," Swank said. "Intel was always working within the rules with us. But I remember when AMD was [doing really well], and we would throw it in Intel's face and say, 'See what AMD is doing?'

"And we liked AMD because at that time it was not working with Dell."

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