Intel Wins Another Victory Against EU as Top Court Backs Annulment of Billion-Euro Antitrust Fine

The leading American chipmaker, Intel Corp yesterday won a major legal victory in its long-drawn battle with the European Union's antitrust enforcers. For the third time in three years, the EU's top court said the Court of Justice an earlier decision by a lower tribunal was right-and threw out the €1.06 billion antitrust fine ($1.14 billion) originally imposed on Intel more than ten years ago. The ruling is an affirmation of the order made by the General Court back in 2022 and a huge win for the chipmaker over regulatory actions taken from the EU on market practices it followed.

After all, at the time when the billion-euro fine was levied upon Intel for abusing its dominance position in the x86 microprocessor market, the European Commission was the lead competition regulator of the EU. It had insisted that the company resorted to anti-competitive practices to eliminate AMD from competition since it was a chip leader and its strongest competitor. For example, the Commission had alleged that Intel offered rebates to computer manufacturers in order to limit AMD's market share and indirectly disadvantage consumers and kill competition.

The long-held position of the Commission proved abortive as the EU's Court of Justice threw away all the appeals by the Commission within its last judgment. This judgment is the other significant reaffirmation of the General Court's judgment in 2022 where it had held that the case of the Commission was not supported by concrete evidence to stand the fact that Intel's rebate policies adversely affected competition. This further adds to help determine Intel's position through the fact that the Court of Justice upheld as correct the basis on which the Commission filed the appeals.

Intel commenting on the ruling is cited saying that the company is satisfied with the judgment delivered by the Court of Justice of the European Union today and finally put this part of the case behind. The company has continuously engaged the EU, saying the claims against it are unfounded based on lawful business practices, which were never intended to restrict choices in the market nor to hinder AMD.

Intel indeed won an outstanding decision over the General Court in 2022, with its appeal of the multibillion penalty sanctioned by the Commission. More than likely, this will demonstrate copious evidence that this institution has a very rigid posture on the enforcement of antitrust practices. This is a new decision by the Court of Justice, where the position of the billion-euro fine imposed by the Commission gets further strengthened for Intel thus providing more support to the broader legal strategy the company has been following in order to address the regulatory challenges thrown by the EU.

Settling with a billion euro fine appears somehow detached from a victory in a line of legal battles for Intel in the EU. It will also still have to pay an additional €376.4 million ($406.6 million) for certain sales restrictions that had in 2022 been ruled as illegal by the General Court. The penalty was from the intensified review that the EU authorities undertook within it, in the course of which they averred that Intel began adopting limiting sales practices through which it hindered access to the market for its competitors. Intel Corp. continues to deny those allegations and will probably appeal this supplemental fine as the litigation continues.

Shares of Intel Corp., based in Santa Clara, Calif., were up a modest amount ahead of Thursday's open. Such a reaction may suggest investors are bullish about Intel's latest victory in the legal arena and about the influence such a victory has on the overall case against Intel's continued litigation within the EU.

This is a very opportune moment for this legal victory for Intel as the company is bidding once more to regain its throne atop the global semiconductor space which has been challenged lately by increased competition and supply chain pressures. For the European Commission, it can force the power to rethink its approach on antitrust enforcement, particularly against technology giants whose business practices are so complex and evolving.

Among the cases of high-profile companies that belong to the technology and digital category, against whom the EU has resorted to its regulatory powers is Intel's. The case now is considered one which may serve as a precedent to influence other companies to make similar steps into their stand with respect to rulings from the Commission. If Intel has finally emerged victorious over the longrunning judicial procedure that it has faced at the EU courts as a result of firm rivalry with EU antitrust regulators, then that will be the most important point in the fight by the company to deal with EU regulatory oversight.