Storm breaks over AMD Intel buying policies

GERMAN CHAIN Saturn and Media Markt is "cold shouldering", a report in the Financial Times Germany alleged.

The newspaper said PCs using AMD microprocessors haven't been for sale at 340 shops throughout Germany since 1999 and sales staff outright refuse to either supply or order machines.

And the report said the buying division of MSH, the holding company, has told one supplier that an exclusive agreement with Intel is behind the absence.

The FT said that the German Monopolies Commission is investigating the firm afer seeing the letter. But MSH has also negotiated with AMD, attempting to get it to match Intel's "bounty".

The paper quotes an unnamed AMD exec as saying the firm was involved in the negotiations as a way of applying pressure on Intel to increase its discounts. µ

L'INQ
Financial Times Deutschland