EU court cancels maxi-fine of 1.06 billion on Intel

Brussels – It is now official: Intel will not have to pay the 1.06 billion euro fine imposed by the European Commission. The European Court of Justice, which had first suspended the fine, now definitively annuls it. A blow to the charging structure of the Antitrust services led by then-Commissioner Neelie Kroes, responsible for Competition in 2009, during the first Barroso Commission, which had found Intel guilty of abusing its dominant position on the x86 microprocessor market by granting, in particular, loyalty rebates to its customers as well as to a distributor of desktop computers.

In 2022, the von der Leyen Commission challenged the Court’s decision annulling the fine. However, today (Oct. 24), the Court reaffirmed the unfounded nature of the decision. The Court rejected all the grounds of appeal raised by the Commission; no maxi-fine for the US giant.

The as-efficient competitor test (AEC) is an analytical framework used in competition law to help distinguish abuse of dominance. In this specific case, the test could produce errors and make it difficult to objectively and clearly ascertain the allegations of abuse against Intel. For this reason, the fine had been frozen, and for the same reason, the Court upheld the judge’s findings from the Court. The 1.06 billion fine cannot be enforced.