Intel scores fresh win against EU after top court backs annulment of billion-euro antitrust fine

LONDON — Chipmaker Intel won a fresh victory Thursday in a long-running battle with European Union competition watchdogs after the bloc’s top court confirmed a lower tribunal’s decision to overturn a billion-euro antitrust penalty.

The EU’s Court of Justice upheld the decision to annul the fine issued more than a decade ago, dismissing an appeal from the European Commission, the 27-nation bloc’s top antitrust enforcer.

The court said it “rejects all of the grounds of appeal raised by the Commission,” according to a press release summarizing the decision.

Intel said in a statement that it’s “pleased with the judgment delivered by the Court of Justice of the European Union today and to finally put this part of the case behind us.”

The case dates back to 2009, when the Commission slapped Intel with a 1.06 billion euro fine ($1.14 billion at current exchange rates) for allegedly using illegal sales tactics to shut out smaller rival AMD. The Commission accused Intel of abusing its dominant position in the global market for x86 microprocessors with a strategy to exclude rivals by using rebates.

Intel scored a surprise win in 2022 when the EU’s General Court overturned the penalty, the decision that the Court of Justice backed on Thursday.

The latest decision is still not the end of the road for the case, because the company is battling a separate 376.4 million-euro ($406.6 million) fine that Brussels imposed last year targeting some Intel sales restrictions that the General Court found were unlawful in its 2022 ruling.

Shares of Intel Corp., based in Santa Clara, California, rose slightly before the opening bell Thursday.