Advanced Micro Devices Inc. has filed an antitrust lawsuit charging that Intel Corp., its chief competitor, used everything from threats to kickbacks in illegally building the world’s largest computer-chip business.

AMD’s 48-page lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Delaware, is the latest shot in a long battle between the two rivals and comes after a recent ruling by Japanese antitrust authorities that Intel had violated anti-monopoly laws and stifled competition with AMD.

The current lawsuit expands those charges, alleging that across three continents Intel coerced 38 companies, including such household names as Dell Inc., Sony Corp. and Gateway Inc. , to win business over a period of years.

In one instance, AMD charged, former Compaq Chief Executive Michael Capellas said in 2000 that “he had a gun to his head” and would have to stop buying from AMD. He said Intel was withholding delivery of critical server chips because of the volume of business he was doing with AMD, according to the lawsuit.

In another, Gateway executives told AMD that Intel had “beaten them into ‘guacamole”‘ in retaliation for doing business with AMD, according to the papers.

Source: Reuters