Intel Inquiry: Not Just Business as Usual

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SANTA CLARA, Calif: The fallout from Wednesday night's revelation that the Federal Trade Commission would be investigating Intel Corp has been relatively minor. The firm's stock price held steady Wall Street, convinced that this inquiry was nothing new, seems to have barely flinched. But is such faith in the leading chip-maker justified? TIME computer correspondent David Jackson believes not. "While Intel has survived such probes in the past," he says, "things have changed they are more powerful today than they ever were before."

Indeed, it may well have been Intel's plans to move in on the graphics-chip market by purchasing Chips & Technologies Inc. that pushed the FTC into action. Although the commission aren't revealing reasons for the inquiry, they did file two requests for information on whether the proposed acquisition would affect the industry which means Intel's days of domination in the chip industry may actually be under threat this time.