Intel was fined by the EC for alleged abuse of its dominant position between October 2002 and December 2007
Intel prevails in its legal challenge against the €1.06bn antitrust fine by the EC. (Credit: xiquinhosilva/Wikimedia Commons)
The General Court of the European Union (EU) has scrapped the €1.06bn antitrust fine imposed on Intel in 2009 by the European Commission (EC).
The EC had fined the company for alleged abuse of its dominant position between October 2002 and December 2007 on the worldwide market for x86 processors by undertaking a strategy with an intention to remove competitors from the market.
Intel at that time was accused of blocking rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) by offering rebates to computer manufacturers Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, and NEC for purchasing all or almost all of their x86 central processing units (CPUs) from it.
Likewise, Intel was found by the EC to have given payments to Media-Saturn-Holding (MSH), a European retailer of microelectronic devices. The payments were conditional on MSH exclusively selling computers that had Intel’s x86 CPUs.
As per the Commission, Intel’s anticompetitive behaviour led to a decrease in consumer choice and in lesser incentives to innovate.
The General Court said that it has annulled the EC’s decision as the latter’s as-efficient-competitor (AEC) analysis was not complete and, in any case, does not make it probable to establish the necessary legal standard that the rebates at issue could have, or were expected to have anticompetitive effects.
The European Commission said it will examine the General Court’s judgment and reflect on the potential next steps, reported Reuters.
In 2014, the same court dismissed the action brought by Intel against the EC decision in its entirety. Following an appeal brought by the company, the Court of Justice in 2017 put aside that ruling and asked the General Court to re-examine the decision.
Last week, Intel said that it will invest over $20bn to build two new semiconductor fabs in Licking County in the US state of Ohio.