Japanese antitrust authorities are likely to be satisfied with their order concerning discount elimination that regulators charged had illegally kept competitors out of the market, Intel Corp. says.

In contradiction to this statemen,t Japan Fair Trade Commission reassures that antimonopoly laws’ violation never took place, and, moreover,r it never stifled competition with its rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

"We can live with the recommended cease and desist order but we disagree respectfully with their interpretation of the facts," Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said.

Intel, which got $3 billion in income last year, says it will continue offering discounts and rebates based on purchases and other factors.

Intel commands nearly 90 percent of the Japanese market for microprocessors, the central chips in personal computers.

"This would not mean PC makers are not going to buy Intel chips any more. Given a small market share by AMD, they have no choice but to turn to Intel products," said Yoshihisa Toyosaki, president of research firm iSuppli Japan.

"By complying with the FTC order, Intel’s presence in the market will be little affected and it can save a lot of image problems," he added.