First it was a 497m euros fine on Microsoft for abuse of dominant market position, now its 1.06bn euros against Intel for anti-competitive practice.
The EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said that Intel influenced the market by offering rebates but with conditions that there was no fair chance for competitors to get in the market, thus curtailing competition and consumers ended up paying too much at the end of the day. Intel took advantage of their dominant position having a more than 70% share of the market. She also stated that rebates with certain conditions are not allowed and that the judgment is meant to convey the message that fair competition means that your are not blocking market or innovation.
The Commission found that between 2002 and 2007, Intel had paid manufacturers and a retailer to favor its chips over those of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).
The Commission said that Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo and NEC had been given hidden rebates if they only used Intel chips. It also found that Media Saturn, which owns Europe's biggest consumer electronics retailer Media Market, had been given money so that it would only sell computers containing Intel chips.
Intel is facing antitrust infringement decisions against it in Japan, Korea, and the EU, while the US authorities are investigating Intel as well.
Intel has announced that it will appeal against the verdict.
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