Intel Fined $1.4 Billion Due To “Unfair Sales Tactics”

Intel has lost a case this Thursday opened by the European Commision back in 2009, where Intel was charged with harming its competitor, Advanced Micro Devices, or most commonly known as AMD by giving rebates to PC makers such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard, NEC and Lenovo for buying most of their computer chips from Intel.

In addition to the above charges, Intel is said to have paid German retail chain Media Saturn Holding to stock only computers with its chips. These are quite harsh accusations thrown at Intel, having the case opened for about 5 years now. However, it appears that the decision has been finally made and it looks like the Luxembourg-based General Court has backed the Commision’s decision as well with the following statement:

“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.

The EU judges have also decided to fine Intel with the outstanding sum of $1.4 billion, which is equivalent to 4.15% of the company’s revenue in 2008, opposed to a possible maximum fine consisting of 10% of the revenue. Also, the judges’ decision along with the rising level of fines could become a source of serious concern for a lot of companies.

Intel still has one more chance it could take by taking the case forward to the Court of Justice of the European Union. However, the company refused to make any official statement on what its future actions will be.

Thank you Reuters for providing us with this information