Intel Hit With $1.45 Billion Fine From EU
The European Union has fined Intel a record breaking $1.45 billion in relation to antitrust charges against the company.
European Antitrust regulators have been reviewing Intel’s case for a very long time, believing the company’s pricing model was an attempt to drive competition out of the market. Intel denied the charges related to rebates offered as long as manufacturers agreed to obtain the majority of their processors from Intel as well as paying them to either to delay or cancel the launch of AMD based products. The company maintained its actions were within legal boundaries.
In a statement this morning, the EU’s Competition Commissioner says Intel “harmed millions of European consumers deliberately” and the fines shouldn’t surprise anyone. "Given that Intel has harmed millions of European consumers by deliberately acting to keep competitors out of the market for over five years, the size of the fine should come as no surprise," said Neelie Kroes.
Intel on the other hand is not happy and plans to appeal the decision, claiming it “ignores the reality of the highly competitive microprocessor market.” The fine itself amounts to a mere 4.15 percent of Intel’s annual revenue ($38 billion in 2008), and given that the European Union is, by law, allowed to fine up to 10 percent of that figure, we’re a little surprised at the leniency of it all.
The decision comes amid speculation that Intel could come under similar scrutiny in the United States following resolute statements from the White House regarding anti competitive behavior.
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Would it be that hard to convert it into ££ or Euros?!?!
The fine was even given in Euros! Yet you state it in dollars!!
And it's 30% of Intel's yearly profit, it's quite a lot of money.
They should take the cash (more if needed) and hand it to AMD for all time sake just to balance things out, the Americans will never do something like that, they enjoy the strong stepping on the weak to be on top!
So far the Koreans and the Europeans have found them guilty, i wonder who will catch these greedy morons next... i'm done with intel products - lost all respect for them now. Intel and the damn British politicians, they got alot in common.
Bye. Jon.
Oh come on john365999 grow up they make the better product why would you buy a CPU that will underperform just because you dont like how Intel do business ? I love AMD/ATI products. I only really got into computing when AMD were on top with the 64 chips. But they are as guilty as anyone for where they find themselves. They did what Nvidia have done since the 8800s, namley nothing in R&D and now its all intels fault because they gave incentives ie price breaks to suppliers. Yes if they specifically paid people to hold back development of AMD etc products then fair enough. However if you are going to fine them then whats happening to those who were in with them and took the money ??
I will continue to partner Intel with ATI untill AMD can make a chip worth my attention at a price point that makes sense.
Mactronix
.... These fines relate to a time when AMD was on top when the Athlon series were actually better than the P4s that is why they were fined, they stopped manufacturers from buying superior products and therefore harmed the consumers in the EU.
I also think that at least some of this money should go to AMD.