Intel Faces Antitrust Suit From New York

New York's top lawyer has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Intel, claiming the company used "illegal threats and collusion" to dominate the marketplace for computer microprocessors.

Paul Sakuma

Exterior view of Intel headquarters in Santa Clara, California.

State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo claims the world's biggest computer chip maker tried to prevent the sale of competitors' products by paying billions of dollars in kickbacks to computer manufacturers.

"Intel has instead used illegal threats and coercion, buying and bullying to preserve its strangle hold on the market," Cuomo told reporters in a conference call. "In Intel's market there were no laws of supply and demand, instead it was the law of my way or the highway."

Cuomo also says Intel retaliated against companies that did too much business with its rivals.

Cuomo says the company's practices were revealed in internal e-mails obtained in an investigation that has lasted for nearly two years.

In May Intel was fined $1.45 billion by the European Union over similar charges. The company has denied wrongdoing.

Cuomo filed the lawsuit in federal court in Delaware under New York antitrust law and federal antitrust law.

A spokesman from the company told CNBC "We disagree with the New York attorney general."

*Wires contributed to this report