SAN FRANCISCO — The Federal Trade Commission is trumpeting its settlement with Intel Corp. as a victory for consumers who have overpaid for computer chips for a decade, though computer buyers shouldn’t expect a sudden drop in prices.
The deal announced Wednesday represents the end to the harshest antitrust lawsuit Intel has faced yet from government regulators, and it imposes the strictest set of changes onto the way Intel does business.
But any changes as a result of FTC actions would likely be gradual, and possibly imperceptible, to most people.
One reason is that the prices for computer chips have steadily fallen anyway as technological advances make it cheaper for companies such as Intel to make more powerful chips. Consumers have gotten used to getting more computer for less money every time they go shopping.
The FTC’s case is built on the argument that those prices haven’t fallen as fast as they could have. It has accused Intel of contributing to that by abusing its position as the No. 1 supplier of both central processing units, or CPUs, and graphics processing units, GPUs, to box rivals out of the market and stifle competition.
CPUs are the “brains” of computers and are among their most expensive parts, often making up about 15 percent to 20 percent of a computer’s price. GPUs are chips that make graphics look good on computer screens.
