Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), the world’s second-largest chip company, has sought the IT ministry’s intervention in ensuring a level playing field in the bidding process of the government’s IT contracts.
Globally, AMD competes with Intel, which manufactures Pentium series of processors, for government and corporate contracts. However, in India, AMD has been impacted by the government’s prerequisite for Pentium-based computers while bidding for IT contracts.
In fact, AMD’s Indian unit was earlier looking at knocking at the doors of Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) to remove the “virtual monopoly” of Intel in the government business. However, the company dropped this plan due to procedural delays in achieving results and is currently in talks with the IT ministry to make the policy “neutral” to provide a fair competition.
Ramkumar Subramanian, vice president, sales and marketing at AMD India, said, “We have not as strongly gone against them (Intel) here as it is a procedural thing which should be backed by legal reports etc, and that takes time. We are not looking to file a complaint in the CCI against them, but we are talking to the IT ministry to make changes in the policy itself.”
The company is also talking to the state governments for providing them a level playing field for the government IT tenders.
AMD has been successful in negotiating with the governments in Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh to invite computer tender biddings for a faster and cheaper technology-based processors rather than a specific company-based product.
“The government should buy a better technology at a lower price for government contracts. We need a level playing field to compete with them (Intel) in the government vertical, in the corporate side we are competing with them aggressively,” Subramanian added.
The European Commission has already fined Intel $1.5 billion for misusing its position and gave them orders to end illegal trade practices such as antitrust rules and illegal anticompetitive practices to exclude competitors from the processor market.
Comments