Election season: picking on Intel?
Others may also pontificate the notion that whilst GlobalFoundries has been successfully spun-off from Intel rival AMD - and is now majority-owned by Abu Dhabi-run ATIC - the firm is still affiliated with AMD. Furthermore, the fabrication company is currently ploughing some $4bn into building up a couple of manufacturing facilities in Saratoga, NY - a fact probably not lost on any politician in New York State.
It is also worth bearing in mind that back in the late '90s, when the Microsoft antitrust case was in play, filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ), 27 other AGs from across the US joined ranks and supported the suit. Not a single other attorney general is joining Cuomo in this latest campaign, and industry insiders tell HEXUS that's not for lack of his trying.
Even if this case has nothing to do with political ambition and protecting state interests, the filing treads on some very thin ice when it comes to some of the information posted in it, which had previously never surfaced in the public domain.
The NY AG's office has apparently taken information from the case files pending in Delaware and put them directly into the complaint, including emails from Michael Dell himself, IBM executives and Intel executives.
The problem with publishing such sensitive information in the run up to an already-scheduled trial is that the various firms named and shamed can't actually comment on what's just been published because they are all signatories to a protective order. This basically means that the firms have their hands tied when it comes to being able to comment on the emails and documents published.
An industry insider told HEXUS someone would have to answer to the court for the plethora of legal issues the published information caused. "The New York attorney general obviously doesn't care about the protective order," our source told us.
He added that the case was even more complex because of the sheer number of third parties involved, each with their own agendas and packs of legal advisors.
Intel has said it will defend itself and that the new suit serves neither consumers nor justice itself.
