The European Court of Justice has ruled in favor of Intel, dismissing the European Commission's appeal and bringing an end to an antitrust dispute that spanned nearly two decades. The court upheld a previous ruling from a lower court, rejecting the Commission's claims against Intel.
Back in 2000, AMD accused Intel of using its dominant position in the processor market to suppress PC manufacturers that used AMD chips. The European Commission formally sued Intel in 2007, and two years later, imposed a record antitrust fine of €1.06 billion ($1.14 billion), citing Intel's various tactics, such as offering rebates to PC makers to limit the use of AMD processors and incentivizing retailers to exclusively sell Intel-based PCs.
In 2014, the General Court of the European Union upheld the fine, but Intel appealed to the European Court of Justice. In 2017, the higher court ordered a retrial, and earlier this year, the General Court annulled the fine, citing incomplete analysis by the Commission regarding the contested rebates. The Commission's subsequent appeal was dismissed in this latest ruling, with the court stating that the illegal rebates were not sufficiently proven.
