Now Hear This!

Once upon a time, I covered politics at the local and state level here in New York. I was reminded today why I left that world for tech.

See our story on the New York State anticompetitive probe into Intel, “Intel antitrust allegations mount as New York launches probe.” Granted, the case against Intel is growing stronger and stronger by the week: Beyond the United States, Europe, Japan, and Korea have questioned if the chipmaker is playing by the rules or bullying PC makers into putting Intel, and only Intel, inside. But such an inquiry from New York State is a bit fishy.

For one, the query focuses on PC OEMs and what PC makers hold New York headquarters? IBM, which has always held court above the Bronx line, doesn’t make PCs anymore. The ink on IBM’s $1.75 billion ThinkPad sale to Lenovo has been dry for two years. The closest OEM is Apple, which has established stores in Manhattan, but that’s it. So, what companies are being defended by State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and his office with the investigation? Cuomo’s only statement addressing that question in the office’s press release was vague: “Monopolistic practices are a serious concern particularly for New Yorkers who are navigating an information-intensive economy.”

While I’m the first to say New York is the center of the universe, it’s not the center of the tech universe. If this action had come out of California, it would have made sense. But New York, what’s the reasoning?

And second, AMD, Intel’s chief rival as named in the probe, has a $3.2 billion memorandum of understanding with upstate New York to build a fab there. It was also lured there in 2006 with almost $1 billion in incentives.  New York has established that it wants to make the chipmaker happy.

When I spoke with AMD’s representative, I asked if the probe was connected in any way to AMD’s presence in New York. Mike Silverman, a PR manager out of Texas, rightfully answered, “I couldn’t say. That’s really a question for the attorney general’s office.”

So it is. Calls to the office in Albany were transferred to the Manhattan office, where I was connected to someone who reminded me of the very short time I spent covering the world of Paris Hilton (a gig between covering politics and tech that I left and never looked back on). Completely flighty, the girl answering the phones had to put me on hold 6 times over the course of a 4 minute call. Needless to say, I didn’t get an answer, nor has her supervisor called back.

While AMD and Intel returned calls within 15 minutes of our news desk leaving voicemails, it’s been hours now and no call back from the state. I’d like to think this is because the Britney Spears wannabe on the other end of the line didn’t write my number down or perhaps used the message to dispose of her gum, but odds are it’s because the state attorney general’s office doesn’t have an answer or doesn’t want to answer.

Share your thoughts on the Intel investigations, AMD’s place in it all, or New York’s role below.

--Suzanne Deffree, Managing Editor, News