Intel may have won its case to overturn a €1 billion fine antitrust fine in the EU, but the chipmaker is now pressing for interest to be paid.
In January 2022, the EU’s second-highest court overturned a €1 billion fine imposed on Intel in 2009. The EU Commission accused Intel of trying to use rebates and other incentives to block manufacturers from using chips from rival AMD. Intel was ordered to pay the fine before it was reversed 12 years later.
Intel now wants the Commission to pay it $624 million in interest, according to Reuters. The EU Court did address interest last year, saying the Commission would need to pay default interest for fines that have been overturned and reimbursed. What’s more, the court said late payments on interest would incur further interest.
It’s been a rough few days or the EU’s antitrust regulators. Last week the same court overturned a $1 billion fine against Qualcomm, criticizing regulators’ handling of the case.
As we wrote in our coverage of that story, Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager will likely need to be more careful in how she and her regulators go after tech companies and build cases against them.
