American chipmaker Intel lost an appeal against the European Union's antitrust decision but won a partial victory in the case as Europe's second-highest court on Wednesday cut by a third the fine imposed on the company two years ago for hindering competitors. This was reported by Reuters, writes UNN.
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The General Court, based in Luxembourg, upheld the European Commission's decision but reduced the fine by approximately 140 million euros.
The European Commission, which acts as the EU's competition authority, imposed a fine of 376 million euros in 2023. This came after the tribunal overturned a previous fine of 1.06 billion euros imposed in 2009 for blocking competitor Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).
The 376 million euro fine concerned payments Intel made to companies such as HP, Acer, and Lenovo to stop or delay the production of competing products between November 2002 and December 2006. Such payments are known as naked restrictions and are usually strictly prohibited by regulators.
The judges stated that a fine of 237 million euros more appropriately reflects the gravity and duration of the infringement in question. They pointed to the relatively limited number of computers affected by Intel's restrictions and the 12-month gap between some of these anti-competitive practices. Both the Commission and Intel have the right to appeal to the Court of Justice of the EU, the highest court in Europe, on points of law.