[lisper]

Why on earth should Intel care about having plausible deniability about that? Buying a company in order to kill it is not illegal. It isn't even considered unethical except by a few utopian idealists. It's a common and accepted practice in the business world.

[crote]

Antitrust laws are a thing, you know. Buying out your competition in order to get rid of them is indeed illegal, once you get big enough.

[meepmorp]

You get rid of your competition either way, though - either the competing products are now part of your offerings, or they're no longer sold. Either situation leads to the same level of reduced competition.