Image: © Robert/Stock.adobe.com
While the EU Court of Justice ruled in favour of the chipmaker, the Commission reimposed a lower fine last year for the same practices.
US chipmaker Intel has won a major fight in a long-running antitrust case spanning 15 years.
The EU Court of Justice (CJEU) has today (24 October) upheld a previous judgment from the General Court, which had ruled in favour of Intel, dismissing a €1.06bn fine imposed by the European Commission.
The fine was brought against Intel in 2009 for “abuse of a dominant market position”, with the Commission saying the chipmaker had engaged in anticompetitive practices such as providing rebates to computer manufacturers to give itself an unfair advantage over rival AMD.
“Such rebates and payments effectively prevented customers, and ultimately consumers, from choosing alternative products,” the Commission said at the time. “By undermining its competitors’ ability to compete on the merits of their products, Intel’s actions undermined competition and innovation.”
However, Intel appealed the decision and in 2022, the EU’s General Court, the bloc’s second highest court, overturned the fine, saying the Commission’s analysis was incomplete, making it impossible to establish the legal standard around whether or not the rebates were capable of having anticompetitive effects.
In response, the Commission launched an appeal with the CJEU, but today’s judgement said it “rejects all of the grounds of appeal raised by the Commission”.
While the €1.06bn fine has been put to bed, the Commission is still targeting Intel for what it believes to be anticompetitive practices.
Last year, the Commission reimposed a lower fine of €376.36m for abusing its dominant market position in the computer chips sector between 2002 and 2006.
EU Commissioner for competition policy Didier Reynders said the fine was reimposed because Intel abused its dominant position in a way that is “illegal under our competition rules”.
“Intel paid its customers to limit, delay or cancel the sale of products containing computer chips of its main rival,” Reynders said. “Our decision shows the Commission’s commitment to ensure that very serious antitrust breaches do not go unsanctioned.”
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