- Intel was found guilty of anti-competitive conduct between 2002 and 2006
- The original fine was cut from €1.06 billion to €376 million, now €237 million
- It is unclear whether Intel will pay or if it plans to appeal again
Intel lost its appeal against an EU cartel ruling on anti-competitive behaviour, but the original 376 million euro fine, set for 2023, has been reduced by around 140 million euros to soften the blow, per Pakinomist reporting.
The new fine of €237 million has been assessed to be more proportionate to the scale and time frame of the infringements.
In particular, this case concerns payments that Intel was found guilty of making to HP, Acer and Lenovo between 2002 and 2006 to delay or completely stop the use of AMD components in their devices.
Intel’s EU cartel fine has been reduced
Despite the decrease in the amount of the fine, we cannot take it as confirmation that the case will be closed. Intel was initially issued a much larger fine of €1.06 billion in 2009, which was thrown out of court in 2023, making this an extremely protracted legal battle.
“An amount of 237,105,540 euros is a more appropriate reflection of the gravity and duration of the violation in question,” the Luxembourg court noted.
In 2023, when the 2009 billion dollar fine was reduced to ‘just’ 376.36 million euros, Commissioner Didier Reynders said: “Our decision shows the Commission’s commitment to ensure that very serious antitrust violations are not sanctioned.”
Intel’s payments to stifle AMD sales were classified as “bare restraints,” which the EU regulates as “abuse of dominant market position.”
After a troubling few years, dwindling sales, competition from Nvidia in the AI market, and a nearly $9 billion investment from the US government to support US manufacturing, Intel is now readying its next-generation Panther Lake (Intel Core Ultra series 3) notebook processors intended for high-end AI PCs.
CEO Lip-Bu Tan emphasized Panther Lake’s significant in “building[ing] a new Intel.”
The company did not immediately respond TechRadar Pro‘s request for a response to the EU’s latest decision to cut the fine.
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