EU Fines Intel a Record 1.06 Billion Euro
Chip giant Intel was handed a record fine of 1.06 billion Euro ($1.45 billion) for allegedly abusing its leading position in the CPU market.
“The decision is wrong and ignores the reality of a highly competitive microprocessor marketplace” commented Intel CEO Paul Otellini, adding that "Intel never sells products below cost. We have however, consistently invested in innovation, in manufacturing and in developing leadership technology. The result is that we can discount our products to compete in a highly competitive marketplace”. Sounds like its business as usual for Intel.
The EU report reads rather differently. The commission accuses the company of abusing its market position between 2002 and 2007, claiming Intel made generous payments to PC manufacturers and retailers to boycott AMD chips. Dell, Acer, HP, Lenovo and NEC were among the companies linked to Intel's malpractice.
According to the European Commissioner for Competition, Neelie Kroes, "Intel has harmed millions of European consumers by deliberately acting to keep competitors out of the market for computer chips for many years. Such a serious and sustained violation of the EU's antitrust rules cannot be tolerated". As can be expected, AMD is happy with the decision, even if the record figure is still below the sum the EU could have demanded. Intel is set to appeal.
Issue 161/2014
Buy this issue as a PDF
Digital Issue: Price $9.99
(incl. VAT)
Tag Cloud
News
-
Munich Adopts Kolab
The Bavarian capital shuns Microsoft, Google, and other alternatives to implement an open-source groupware solution.
-
Canonical Announces Ubuntu Smartphones
Phone vendor partnerships bring Mark Shuttleworth's dream of Ubuntu on a phone a step closer to reality.
-
Piviti Seeks Funding
Donors will get to vote on new features for the free video editor.
-
Debian Tech Committee Votes for systemd
Debian project puts init out to pasture and says no to Ubuntu's Upstart.
-
The Mask: Scary New Face of Internet Intrusion
Ultra-sophisticated attack tool might have originated from a state-sponsored intelligence service.
-
Epoch 1.0 Released
New alternative for init comes with a small footprint and minimal configuration.
-
Wayland 1.4 Challenges X11
X marks the target for the next-generation windowing system.
-
Red Hat Adopts CentOS
Super-clone CentOS Linux gets beamed up to the mother ship.
-
W3C Promotes Media Source Extensions
HTML technology will enable new video editing and playback options.
-
Valve Announces SteamOS Beta
New Linux distro is optimzed for gaming.