LUXEMBOURG: US chipmaker Intel lost yesterday its challenge against a record €1.06bn European Union fine handed down five years ago, as Europe’s second highest court said regulators did not act too harshly.
The European Commission in its 2009 decision said Intel tried to thwart rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) by giving rebates to PC makers Dell, Hewlett-Packard Co, NEC and Lenovo for buying most of their computer chips from Intel.
The EU competition authority said Intel also paid German retail chain Media Saturn Holding to stock only computers with its chips. Judges at the Luxembourg-based General Court said yesterday they backed the Commission’s decision. “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,” the court said in a near 300-page decision.
Judges said the EU watchdog had not been heavy-handed with the level of the fine, equal to 4.15 percent of Intel’s 2008 turnover, versus a possible maximum of 10 percent. While Commission penalties rarely hit the top figure, the rising level of fines is a source of worry for many companies. Reuters
