EU: No Decision Yet on Intel

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission strongly denied on Wednesday that it had reached any provisional decision in its antitrust investigation of the world's biggest chipmaker Intel Corp.

"There is no provisional or internal decision on this case. The investigation is very much active and ongoing," EU competition spokesman Jonathan Todd told a regular briefing.

The Financial Times Deutschland, citing Brussels sources, had said the European Union competition authority planned to take action against Intel's sales and distribution practices and would publish an official decision late this summer.

In an unusually sharp rebuttal, Todd said the article was misleading and was an example of "irresponsible journalism".

The newspaper said the EU would stop Intel from marketing its microprocessors to personal computer makers at a discount.

It also said the EU would forbid the chipmaker from subsidizing retailers' advertising costs, to the extent that it demanded exclusivity in return.

Intel's legal affairs spokesman Chuck Mulloy told Reuters on Tuesday: "To the best of our knowledge, no decision has been made. We continue to work with the Commission to attempt to convince them that our business practices are well within the law."

(Reporting by David Lawsky; writing by Paul Taylor; Editing by Dale Hudson and William Schomberg)

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