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Intel fined record £955m over illegal payments
Allan Hall in Berlin13.05.09
European Union competition watchdogs today fined microchipmaker Intel a record 1.06 billion (£955 million) for acting to ensure most European computers had “Intel Inside”.
The US giant was accused of illegally attacking rival chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices by paying computer makers to postpone or cancel plans to launch products using AMD's kit.
That allowed the US giant to build up a massively dominant position in the market. It also paid illegal, secret rebates to computer makers so they would only — or mainly — use its chips, and even paid a major retailer to stock only computers using Intel.
EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes said this afternoon: “Given that Intel has harmed millions of European consumers by deliberately acting to keep competitors out of the market for more than five years, the size of the fine should come as no surprise.”
The fine is twice as big as the 497 million levied by the EU on Microsoft in 2004 for abusing its dominant market position.
Intel chief executive Paul Otellini said he would appeal against the penalty.
“We believe the decision is wrong and ignores the reality of a highly competitive microprocessor market,” he said.
