Intel incur record €1bn Euro antitrust fine

Posted by Ben

May 13, 2009

Intel has been fined a record €1.06bn, or £948m for breaching antitrust regulations in the EU by encouraging manufacturers and retailers to exclusively stock its products through incentives.

The Intel antitrust decision has come in and its one that’s set to cost the chip maker a pretty penny, or to be more accurate €1.06 bn Euro.

The investigation was the result of complaints from rival company AMD stretching way back to 2000 and alleged that manufacturers were being given kick-back incentives for using the Intel-based chips.

The decision upheld the assertions and found in favour of the complainant. Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes commented that “Intel has harmed millions of European consumers by deliberately acting to keep competitors out of the market for computer chips for many years,” a fact that Intel strenuously denies.

The cost of the slip-up is more than twice that of Microsoft’s 2004 anti-trust fine (€497m) and will run to a total cost of £948m pounds.

Despite Intel’s protestations that “there has been absolutely zero harm to consumers. Intel will appeal”, it must be a worrying verdict with similar antitrust infringements waiting on a decision in a number of places throughout the world, including Japan and the US.

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