Intel may have paid German retailer to prevent it from selling AMD chips

According to the FTG, Intel may still hold and exclusive agreement with the Media-Saturn-Holding, which is considered Europe's largest electronics and computer retailer, which apparently denies AMD access to the chain. A "supplier" claims that Media-Saturn confirmed in a letter that it generally does not buy any AMD products because of an "agreement with Intel." The authors of the FTG article suspect that Intel may have paid several million dollars to convince Media-Saturn to decline shipments of AMD-based products.

The new accusations follow a raid of Intel's Munich offices by Germany's antitrust office in August of last year. The office told TG Daily that the investigations in that case have not been concluded yet; antitrust officials declined to comment on today's FTG report and whether Media-Saturn is part of that investigation.