EU Court Upholds EUR 1.06 Bln Fine Against Intel - Update

(RTTNews) - The European Court of Justice on Thursday upheld a fine of 1.06 billion euros or about $1.43 billion levied against U.S. Chipmaker Intel Corp. (INTC) by European Commission five years before, for blocking rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD).

Intel had appealed a 2009 decision by EU competition authorities to issue the antitrust fine, arguing that the decision was based on mistakes and ignored evidence.

In its 2009 ruling, the European Commission, EU's central antitrust authority, had concluded that Intel tried to prevent AMD by giving rebates to PC makers Dell, Hewlett Packard, Japan's NEC and Lenovo for buying most of their computer chips from Intel.

Judges at the General Court, which is based in Luxembourg, today backed the Commission's decision. In its ruling, the court said rebates granted by Intel were capable of restricting competition and foreclosing competitors from the market. It also rejected Intel's argument that the scale of the fine was disproportionate.

The fine was considered to be the highest single antitrust penalty that the authorities in Brussels have imposed on a single firm.

In pre-market activity, Intel shares are losing $0.12 or 0.43 percent, and trading at $27.81.