EU regulator imposes $400M fine on Intel in long-running anti-competitive case
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The European Commission said on Friday that it has imposed a â¬376.36M , or roughly $400M, fine on Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) for anticompetitive practices in the market for computer chips.
In May 2009, the Commission had fined Intel â¬1.06B for abusing its dominant position in the market for chips called x86 central processing units. In 2022, the General Court ruled again on the matter and annulled the part of the 2009 Commission's decision concerning the conditional rebates, but confirmed the unlawfulness of Intel's "naked restrictions."
However, the court also annulled the full fine imposed on Intel after concluding that it could not establish the amount of the fine relating only to the naked restrictions, the EC noted.
The EC said it has re-imposed a fine on Intel only for its naked restrictions practice and is not related to the company's conditional rebates practice. Thus, the fine amount, which is based on the same parameters as its 2009 decision, reflects the narrower scope of the infringement compared to that decision.
EC added that Intel did not appeal the part of the 2022 judgment upholding EC's finding about the unlawfulness of Intel's restrictions, which has thus become final. Therefore, the EC was entitled to re-impose a new fine on Intel, the agency added.
EC said that the restrictions consisted of certain payments made by Intel to computer manufacturers, HP (HPQ), Acer (OTC:ACEYY) and Lenovo (OTCPK:LNVGY) (OTCPK:LNVGF) to halt or delay the launch of specific products containing competitors' x86 CPUs and to limit the sales channels available to these products.
The EC noted that between November 2002 and May 2005, Intel made payments to HP subject to HP selling business desktops based on the x86 CPUs of its competitor Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) â only to small-and-medium-sized enterprises; only via direct distribution channels (rather than distributors); and on HP postponing the launch of its first AMD-based business desktop in Europe by 6 months.
Intel made payments to Acer conditional upon Acer postponing the launch of an AMD-based notebook from September 2003 to January 2004; and payments to Lenovo subject to Lenovo postponing the launch of AMD-based notebooks from June 2006 to the end of 2006, the EC added.
Intel's restrictions had a detrimental effect on competition in the market, by depriving customers of choice which they would have otherwise had, according to the agency.
After the EC's findings related to the Intel's restrictions became final, it sent a letter in May informing the company about its intention to adopt a new decision re-imposing the fine, the agency noted.

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