- Intel was found guilty of anti-competitive behavior between 2002 and 2006.
- The original fine was reduced from €1.06 billion to €376 million, now €237 million.
- It's unclear whether Intel will pay or whether it plans to appeal again.
Intel lost an appeal against an EU antitrust ruling over anti-competitive behavior, but the original €376 million fine imposed in 2023 was reduced by around €140 million to soften the blow, according to Reuters reporting.
The new fine of €237 million was considered more proportionate to the scale and timing of the violations.
This case specifically concerns payments that Intel was found guilty of making. HP, AcerAnd Lenovo between 2002 and 2006, delay or completely stop using AMD components in their devices.
Intel's antitrust fine in the EU has been reduced
Despite the reduction in the fine, we cannot take this as confirmation that a line will be drawn in the case. Intel was initially handed a much larger fine of €1.06 billion in 2009, which was overturned in court in 2023, making the legal battle extremely protracted.
“The amount of €237,105,540 is a more appropriate reflection of the gravity and duration of the violation in question,” the Luxembourg court noted.
In 2023, when the 2009 billion-dollar fine was reduced to “only” 376.36 million euros, Commissioner Didier Reynders said: “Our decision demonstrates the Commission’s commitment to ensuring that very serious violations of competition law do not go unsanctioned.”
Intel's payments to curb AMD's sales were classified as “naked restrictions,” which the EU considers “an abuse of a dominant market position.”
After a troubling couple of years of declining sales, competition from Nvidia in the artificial intelligence market, and thanks to the US government's investment of nearly $9 billion to support American manufacturing, Intel is now preparing the next generation of laptop processors Panther Lake (Intel Core Ultra series 3), designed for high-end PCs with artificial intelligence.
CEO Lip-Bu Tan emphasized the importance of Panther Lake in “creating[ing] new Intel.”
The company did not immediately respond to TechRadar ProRequest from the US to respond to the latest EU decision to reduce the fine.
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