Intel: Antitrust case 'misguided'

A day after the Federal Trade Commission filed an antitrust suit against Intel, CEO Paul Otellini fired back at Washington for action and inaction that he says is getting in the way of an economic recovery. He said Intel had committed to invest $7 billion in nanotechnology manufacturing over two years in Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico that would support 7,000 jobs. Depending on what remedies the FTC might eventually impose, part of that "$7 billion we plopped down could go elsewhere," Otellini said, though he added: "I'm not prepared to say that's what we're doing." Otellini complained that the federal government is in some cases "running" private business and that companies don't know what their health care and energy costs are going to be. They don't know if tax credits for research and development are going to be renewed, he said. The comments were in reference to a range of stalled legislation. "They don't know if corporate taxes are going to be raised from the highest in the world to even higher in the world," Otellini said. "Take the uncertainty out and people can start making business decisions." Otellini says the FTC wants Intel to give up volume discounts and to license its technology to competitors, which he says has the FTC expanding from enforcing regulations to making law. "The entire case is misguided," he says.