South Korea's anti-trust watchdog said Thursday it had fined US giant Intel, the world's biggest semiconductor company, 25 million dollars for unfair practices.

The Fair Trade Commission said Intel had been fined about 26 billion won, accusing the firm of offering local clients rebates and pressuring them not to buy rival chips such as those from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) of the US.

The watchdog said in its statement that it would send official documents to Intel, and Yonhap news agency quoted the firm as saying it was considering an appeal against the decision.

The anti-trust probe began in June 2005 after rival firms accused Intel of using its dominant market position in dealings with local computer manufacturers.

Intel has been hit by anti-trust cases in the US, Japan and Europe. AMD has sued Intel for using improper subsidies.Intel faces a decision by Europe's competition watchdog, which has accused the firm of making payments to clients to delay or cancel products using rival chips.

Intel's central processing units provide the computing power for 80 percent of the world's personal computers.