The antimonopoly regulators of the European Union have decided to introduce a financial impact measure in the form of a fine against Intel.

The resolution of the European watchdogs stipulates that the American technology company must pay €376.3 million ($400 million) as part of the fulfillment of its legal obligation. The decision on the fine was made after the EU court overturned a record €1.06 billion ($1.13 billion) collection against a chip manufacturer from the United States.

The European Commission on Friday, September 22, announced the re-imposition of a smaller fine on the fact of the recorded involvement of an American technology company in the practice of abusing its dominant position in the market of computer chips belonging to the category of central processors x86. The regulator claims that Intel has committed a number of actions that, to one degree or another, limited the capabilities of competitors in the microelectronics market. This practice is qualified in the EU as a violation of local antitrust rules.

This year, the American company reported that the European Commission has resumed the administrative procedure to determine the amount of the fine against the technology brand. Intel outlined the reason for the proceedings and the measures that followed as a reaction of the regulator to the alleged misconduct of the chip manufacturer, the facts of which were established by the watchdog.

The investigation against the company was an ambiguous process in terms of the content of interim court rulings and the position of the brand during the legal examination of its actions. In 2022, Intel was already going to sit on the winner’s throne. In this case, the gain in the proceedings goes beyond the standard result, which has an autonomous meaning in the context of the relationship between the regulator and the company, to which the authorities have questions about the legality of certain practices. It was a kind of showdown of historical proportions. But Intel’s winning mood turned out to be premature.

The optimistic attitude of the company was based on the ruling of the General Court of the EU, according to which regulators made significant mistakes in their 2009 decision that the brand deliberately provided discounts to some manufacturers of personal computers in order to oust the competitor Advanced Micro Devices from the market. The company interpreted this wording as a victory, but the proceedings continued, and the result of this process was not triumphant for Intel. The chip manufacturer avoided the maximum form of financial responsibility for the applied practices of behavior in the market but also did not become a winner.

The EU Court confirmed that the so-called naked restrictions of the company are equivalent to actions to abuse a dominant position in the market. It was also stated that the practice of the chip manufacturer violates European competition rules. The relevant information is contained in the statement of the European Commission.

The court’s ruling became a kind of legal basis for the regulator’s decision on a penalty measure against the chip manufacturer for the aforementioned restrictions.

As we have reported earlier, Intel CEO Says About Good Prospects of Company.