Japan's competition monitor on Tuesday found that Intel, the world's leading chipmaker, had violated antitrust laws by attempting to dissuade personal computer makers from using its rivals' microprocessor chips.

The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) said Intel's Japanese subsidiary had stifled competition by offering rebates to five Japanese PC makers on condition they agreed either to limit purchases of chips made by rivals Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Transmeta.