Intel is "flipped over" by the European Union: fined 376 million euros for abusing market dominance
The European Commission has once again imposed a fine on Intel.
On September 22nd local time, according to the official website of the European Commission, the Commission announced a fine of approximately 376 million euros on US chip manufacturer Intel, citing Intel's abuse of its dominant position in the computer chip market.
The European Commission stated in a statement that the fine imposed on Intel was due to "previous abuse of dominant position in the x86 central processor chip market, Intel's implementation of a series of anti-competitive behaviors aimed at excluding competitors from the relevant market, violating EU antitrust rules.". Prior to this, the European Court of Justice had already revoked the penalty of 1.06 billion euros against Intel.
The dispute between Intel and the European Union has been ongoing for over a decade.
In 2009, the European Commission imposed a fine of $1.2 billion on Intel for abusing its dominant position in the x86 CPU market. On the one hand, Intel provided kickbacks to computer companies to prevent them from purchasing chips from its competitor AMD; On the other hand, it is required that computer manufacturers delay or stop launching products equipped with competitor x86 CPUs, and restrict sales channels. This fine accounted for approximately 4% of Intel's 2008 sales of $37.6 billion.
In January 2022, the European Court of Justice partially repealed the 2009 commission's decision, and Intel won an appeal against the EU's $1.2 billion antitrust fine. The European Commission refunded Intel the $1.2 billion fine.
It is worth noting that the ruling of the European Court of Justice in 2022 denied the European Commission's investigation into Intel's "offer of repurchase", but at the same time believed that Intel's restriction on competitor product launches constituted an abuse of market dominance. However, at that time, the court deemed it impossible to determine the amount of fines related to this and revoked all fines.
Based on this ruling, the European Commission passed a new decision on September 22 imposing a new fine on Intel for its restrictive behavior.
The European Commission stated that these restrictions by Intel occurred from November 2002 to December 2006, during which Intel paid three computer manufacturers to stop or delay the launch of specific products equipped with competitor x86 CPUs, and restricted the sales channels of these products.
It is worth noting that just one day ago, the European Chip Act had just come into effect. The Chip Act aims to create conditions for the development of industrial bases in the semiconductor industry in Europe, attract investment, promote research and innovation, and prepare Europe for future chip supply crises. The EU will raise 43 billion euros in public and private funding, with the goal of doubling its share of the global semiconductor market from 10% to at least 20% by 2030. As early as 2022, when the European Union proposed the Chip Act, Intel promised to build billions of euros in facilities in Europe and will seek subsidies under new regulations.