A record €1 billion ($1.35 billion) fine imposed on Intel for hampering competition in the European Union was appropriate, a court found on Thursday, rejecting an appeal by the US computer chip maker.
Intel had filed an appeal with the EU’s General Court, arguing that the European Commission had not appropriately made its case for the 2009 penalty. But the Luxembourg-based judges dismissed the appeal in its entirety, finding the fine to be “appropriate”. The commission, the EU’s executive, had begun probing Intel in 2001, acting on complaints filed by rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). At issue was the market for x86 central processing units, a key component in computers.
The investigation revealed that Intel had worked to exclude AMD by offering manufacturers such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo and NEC generous rebates, on condition that they only use its products.
The commission had also found that Intel had bribed major retailers, such as Germany’s Media Markt, to stop selling rival computers.
“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 noted in a statement.
“None of the arguments raised by Intel supports the conclusion that the fine imposed is disproportionate,” it said, noting that, in fact, the penalty was “at the lower end of the scale” at 4.15 per cent of Intel’s annual turnover.
The commission can apply fines reaching up to 10 per cent of a company’s global turnover.
Thursday’s ruling can be appealed to the EU’s top judges at the European Court of Justice.