Intel to pay rival $1.25 billion

The world’s largest maker of computer processors has agreed to pay a rival more than $1 billion to settle antitrust and patent lawsuits.

Intel Corporation agreed to settle the suits with AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) and agreed to abide by a set of “business practice provisions.” In return, AMD will drop suits in the U.S. and Japan; it’ll also withdraw complaints to antitrust regulators worldwide.

AMD had complained to regulators over five years that Intel operated unfairly by offering rebates to big customers – a decision that undercut AMD’s prices. In 2005, Japan’s Fair Trade Commission found that Intel violated antitrust rules there – allegations the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is looking into. Intel owns about 8 in 10 microprocessors around the world; AMD owns most of the rest.