US FTC investigates Intel dispute with NVIDIA

It appears that Intel's legal case with NVIDIA still goes a long way. Apple's partner for the supply of processors for Macs rarely commented on the case, but in early October NVIDIA said it would keep its chipset division paralyzed until everything is resolved. More recently, less than a month ago, the company's CEO even commented on the issue in an interview.

NVIDIA and Intel logos

Now, information is emerging that the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is closely investigating Intel's shares and analyzing its relationship with NVIDIA. According to the Bloomberg, the commission wants to determine whether Intel's lawsuit against NVIDIA is intended to deliberately harm its competitor's business.

Intel filed a lawsuit against NVIDIA in February of this year, claiming that their licensing agreement did not extend to the manufacture of CPUs. NVIDIA responded a month later, stating that Intel would be violating terms of its agreement.

NVIDIA competes with Intel not only in the chipset segment, but also in low-cost Atom processors, with its ARM Tegra line used today in Microsoft's Zunes HD. In addition to the chipsets of almost all Intel Macs today, NVIDIA also produces dedicated graphics cards for professional Macs, high-end models.