Europe re-visits Intel anti-trust case with partial fine – updated
The European Commission has re-imposed a fine of around €376.36 million on Intel as part of a long running anti-trust case.
Back in 2009, the Commission fined Intel €1.06 billion after finding that Intel abused its dominant position in the market for x86 CPUs. This was overturned in 2022 by the European General Court.
The case covered two areas, the rebates that Intel paid to system makers and paying some system makers to delay launching products using AMD x86 processors, or ‘naked restrictions’.
- Intel scores major win as court scraps $1.2 bln EU antitrust fine
- Intel’s German fab in peril as politician says ‘no’ to subsidy
- European Chips Act comes into force
The Commission is adopting a new decision imposing a fine on Intel only for the naked restrictions. These restrictions took place between November 2002 and December 2006 and covered payments made by Intel to HP, Acer and Lenovo to halt or delay the launch of AMD-based systems and to limit the sales channels available to these products.
The lower €376.36m fine reflects the narrower scope of the infringement compared to the 2009 Commission decision. But the Commission still has an appeal pending against the General Court’s annulment of the first part of the 2009 findings on Intel’s conditional rebates and a case by Intel over the amount of interest on the original fine.
As Intel has not appealed the part of the 2022 judgment of the General Court upholding the Commission’s finding about the unlawfulness of Intel’s naked restrictions, it has become final, says the Commission, taking the view that it is now entitled to re-impose a new fine on Intel.
This comes as relations between Intel and the Commission had thawed, with major investment in Leixlip in Ireland and plans for two silicon fabs in Madegburg in Germany and an assembly plant in Poland, and Intel seems to be willing to take a less legalistic approach going forwards.
“With today’s decision, we are re-imposing a €376.36 million fine on Intel for having abused its dominant position in the computer chips market,” said Didier Reynders, the commissioner in charge of competition policy
“Intel paid its customers to limit, delay or cancel the sale of products containing computer chips of its main rival. This is illegal under our competition rules. Our decision shows the Commission’s commitment to ensure that very serious antitrust breaches do not go unsanctioned.
- Intel, ADI back Tyndall calls for Irish semiconductor strategy
- Intel announces €33bn European semiconductor plan
- Intel to open $4.6bn assembly and test plant in Poland
Intel has been approached for comment.
“We are reviewing the decision and fine announced on September 22, 2023, which follows from the European General Court’s 2022 vindication of Intel in the key contentions of the case, resulting in the return to Intel of the original 2009 fine of 1.06 billion Euros,” said Intel.
“This decision relates to the smaller part of the original 2009 European Commission Decision. While we are disappointed in a fine of this amount, we continue to focus on our future investments in the EU, and on cooperating with the EC in helping advance Europe’s semiconductor industry.”
If you enjoyed this article, you will like the following ones: don't miss them by subscribing to :
