The antitrust case against Intel has been ongoing for more than a decade. After previously lifting a billion-dollar fine, Europe is introducing a new, more “specific” fine worth 376 million euros.

Since 2009, Intel has faced billions of dollars in fines after misconduct came to light that led to Intel giving money to stores and PC makers to ban PCs with AMD hardware. The antitrust case was deemed very serious by the European Commission and resulted in a gigantic fine of 1.06 billion euros.

At the beginning of 2022, the Court of First Instance of the Court of Justice of the European Union annulled the fine as incomplete. It was impossible to objectively determine that Intel’s incentives actually drove AMD out of the market. Since the effects can no longer be estimated, the court cannot determine the amount of the fine. It was therefore deleted. Europe appealed against this.

The new fine of 376 million euros is the next step in this process.

Saturn and MediaMarkt

The European Commission hopes that the new penalty will be an answer to the repeal of the previous billion-dollar fine. It is aimed at the specific situation that Intel paid the parent companies of Saturn and MediaMarkt to only sell computers with Intel chips, not those from AMD. This violates EU law, which should justify the fine of 376 million euros.

The reason why this is not a higher fine is because the European Commission expressly addresses this case. It can put a certain amount on it that AMD missed. The other part of the billion-dollar fine, the blocking of AMD chips from PC manufacturers Dell, HP, Lenovo and NEC, is more difficult to quantify, which makes a specific fine difficult.

The €376 million fine has now been imposed, but the European Commission continues to appeal against the court’s earlier annulment.