2023-09-22 13:31:48
This Friday, the European Commission has once again imposed a fine of 376.36 million euros to Intel for an abuse of a dominant position in the computer chip market.
Brussels considers that Intel participated in a series of anti-competitive practices aimed at excluding competitors from the relevant market, in violation of EU antitrust rules.
In 2009, the Commission already fined Intel €1.06 billion after finding that it had abused its dominant position in the x86 central processing unit (CPU) market.
The decision of the Community Executive was based on conclusions that Intel had engaged in two specific forms of illegal practices by, on the one hand, granting fully or partially hidden discounts to computer manufacturers on the condition that they buy all or almost all of their CPUs and, on the other hand, paying computer manufacturers to delay the launch of specific products containing x86 CPUs of the competition and limit the sales channels available for these products.
In 2022, the General Court partially annulled the Commission’s 2009 decision, in particular the conclusion related to Intel’s conditional discounting practice. At the same time, the General Court confirmed that Intel’s manifest restrictions constituted a abuse of dominant position in the market according to EU competition rules.
The General Court also annulled the fine imposed on Intel in its entirety after concluding that it could not determine the amount of the fine in relation to the manifest restrictions alone.
Following this ruling, Brussels adopted a new decision this Friday that imposes a fine on Intel solely for the manifest restrictions that took place between November 2002 and December 2006 and consisted of payments made by Intel to three computer manufacturers (HP , Acer and Lenovo) to stop or delay the launch of specific products containing competing x86 CPUs and limit sales channels.
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Manifest restrictions constitute a serious violation and the Commission has therefore decided to reimpose a fine of €376.36 million on Intel, a reduction from the first penalty that reflects the more limited scope of the infringement compared to the 2009 decision.
This decision is without prejudice to the Commission’s pending appeal against the General Court’s annulment of its 2009 finding of an infringement regarding Intel’s conditional discounts.
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