European Commission Fines Intel $1.43 Billion For [...]

📅 June 12, 2014 - The European Commission ruled on Thursday that U.S. chipmaker Intel must pay $1.43 billion in an antitrust fine, making this the highest antitrust fine on a single company by the EU.

In 2009, the EU ruled that Intel had used anticompetitive practices against rival Advanced Micro Devices by offering rebates to manufacturers that purchased CPUs from them, PCMag reports.

“The Commission demonstrated to the requisite legal standard that Intel attempted to conceal the anti-competitive nature of its practices and implemented a long term comprehensive strategy to foreclose AMD from the strategically most important sales channels,” said the court.

The court found that between 2002 and 2007, Intel had granted rebates to manufactures Dell, HP, NEC, Lenovo, and Media-Saturn.

“We are very disappointed with the decision,” said an Intel spokeswoman. “This is a complex case and the decision reflects that. We have begun the process of evaluating the Court's judgment.”

According to the New York Times, Intel can appeal the ruling to Europe's highest court, the European Court of Justice.