Intel wants 593 million euros in interest from the EU because of the annulled billion-dollar fine

Intel wants 593 million euros from the European Commission, because of the unjust fine of 1.06 billion euros that the company was imposed in 2009. Intel sees the amount as lost interest. The company already got back the original amount and part of the interest earlier this year.

The European Commission fined Intel in 2009 because the company allegedly disadvantaged AMD in the segment of x86 processors. According to the Commission, Intel gave discounts to companies such as Dell, Lenovo and HP if they bought a large part of their x86 processors from Intel. The American chipmaker also paid MediaMarkt and Saturn if they would only sell computers with Intel x86 processors.

As a result of these agreements, competitors such as AMD were significantly less able to compete with Intel, the European Commission stated. That is why Intel was imposed the competition fine of 1.06 billion euros. Intel appealed against this ruling several times, after which the European Court of Justice decided earlier this year that the fine had indeed been wrongly imposed. For example, the Commission had not sufficiently considered Intel’s counter-arguments and results at one party were extrapolated to a longer period, without the EU providing sufficient substantiation.

Earlier this year, Intel therefore received a refund of the amount paid of 1.06 billion euros. In such competition lawsuits, however, injured parties are entitled to interest if it later turns out that the fine was unjustified. Intel asked the European Commission for interest, which the Commission refused, writes Reuters. That is why Intel has filed a claim for 593 million euros with the General Court of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Intel would have based this amount on interest rates used by the European Central Bank, namely from 1.25 percent in May 2009 to 3.5 percent since August 2009. The total interest amount should actually be EUR 631 million, Intel says, but the Commission has already paid 38 million euros in interest earlier this year.