Intel has lost its appeal against a regulatory fine imposed by the European Commission. However, the chip giant managed to reduce the amount to 237 million euros. The curiosity of the case is that it goes back 16 years and there is still an appeal to the Court of Justice of the EU, which gives an idea of the difficulties in acting against positions of abuse of dominant position.
The case began in 2009, when mobile computing was in its infancy and netbooks They caused a sensation in the personal computer sector. At that time, the European Union ruled that Intel had violated antitrust laws on multiple fronts. First, it used illegal hidden discounts to drive its rivals out of the PC processor market. Second, it paid manufacturers to delay or stop production of AMD-powered products.
The latter, the part covered by today’s fine, was classified as “blatant restrictions”. He was referring to the anticompetitive payments that Intel made to HP, Acer and Lenovo between 2002 and 2006. so that they would not use AMD processors.
As usually happens in these situations, The legal process was debated in court for years. In 2017, Europe’s highest court ordered a re-evaluation of the case, citing the lack of a proper economic assessment of how Intel’s conduct affected its competitors. Subsequently, Europe’s second-highest court annulled the ruling on the first part of the fine (hidden refunds) in 2022, a decision confirmed by the EU Court of Justice last year. This sanction, initially set at a whopping 1,060 million euros, was annulled.
The second fine (“flagrant restrictions”) was imposed in 2023 after European courts did confirm that part. Intel’s latest challenge sought to have it removed as well. Instead, you will have to settle for reducing a third of the initial sum.
With today’s ruling, it would be tempting to consider the matter settled. But the Commission and Intel can still appeal the decision before the Court of Justice of the EU on questions of law. The case, like other antitrust cases, takes decades to resolve. On the other hand, they show behaviors of abuse of position that multiple technology companies have been committing in sectors that they dominate. This can include Google, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple and others.
The EU has other related lawsuits underway, especially those related to alleged breaches of the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
