EU Re-imposes EUR 376.36 Mln Fine On Intel For Anticompetitive Practices For CPUs

(RTTNews) - The European Commission on Friday re-imposed a fine of around 376.36 million euros on Intel Corp. (INTC) for a previously established abuse of dominant position in the market for computer chips called x86 central processing units.

Intel engaged in a series of anticompetitive practices aimed at excluding competitors from the relevant market in breach of EU antitrust rules.

In 2009, the Commission fined Intel 1.06 billion euros after finding that Intel abused its dominant position in the market for x86 CPUs.

The General Court partially annulled the 2009 Commission's decision, in particular the Commission's finding related to Intel's conditional rebates practice, in 2022. The General Court confirmed that Intel's naked restrictions amounted to an abuse of dominant market position under EU competition rules.

The General Court also annulled the fine imposed on Intel in its entirety after concluding that it could not establish the amount of the fine relating only to the naked restrictions.

Following this judgment, the Commission is now adopting a new decision imposing a fine on Intel only for the naked restrictions, which took place between November 2002 and December 2006.

This involved payments made by Intel to three computer manufacturers, HP, Acer and Lenovo, to halt or delay the launch of specific products containing competitors' x86 CPUs and to limit the sales channels available to these products.

As naked restrictions constitute a serious infringement, the Commission has therefore decided to re-impose a fine of around 376.36 million euros on Intel.