After 16 years, Intel loses an antitrust case to the European Commission and must pay millions of euros in fines.
The European Court has rejected Intel’s appeal in a long-running case, Reuters reports. As a result, the chip manufacturer must still pay a fine, though it has been reduced from 376 million euros to 237 million euros.
2009 Lawsuit
The lawsuit concerned Intel allegedly paying brands like HP, Acer, and Lenovo to delay or stop the production of devices with AMD processors. According to the European Commission, this directly disrupted competition in the processor market. Most of the original fine was waived in 2022 following a European Court decision in 2023. This involved 1.06 billion euros for hidden discount practices. The other fine, related to agreements with PC manufacturers, was reimposed in 2023 and has now been largely confirmed.
Both Intel and the Commission can still appeal to the European Court of Justice. However, it appears for now that the chip company will have to accept a significant financial blow in a case that has been dragging on for almost twenty years.