European Commission Fines Intel $400M For Restricting Market Access To Rivals’ Products
The European Commission on Friday reimposed a $400 million fine on chip giant Intel for abusing its dominant position in the market for computer chips known as x86 central processing units (CPUs).
In 2009, the commission fined Intel a record $1.13 billion after finding that Intel had abused its dominant market position.
In 2014, the General Court dismissed Intel’s appeal against the Commission’s 2009 decision.
In 2022, the General Court ruled on the case, annulling the conditional rebates part of the 2009 Commission decision, but upholding the illegality of Intel’s “bare restraints”.
Now, the EU has returned a $400 million fine to Intel for preventing sales of competing chips — less than half of the $1.13 billion fine the commission originally imposed on Intel.
The Commission found that Intel had abused its dominant position “by providing all or part of hidden rebates to computer manufacturers on the condition that they purchase all or nearly all of their x86 processors from Intel.”
It also stated that Intel paid computer manufacturers to “stop or delay the release of certain products containing competitors’ x86 processors and to limit the sales channels available for those products (so-called “bare restraints””).
In a 2022 judgment, the General Court of the European Union confirmed the illegality of Intel’s bare restraints.
“In today’s decision, the Commission has reimposed a fine on Intel only for its bare restraints. The fine is not related to Intel’s conditional rebates,” it said.
