Why did Europe fine Intel $400 million?

 In an antitrust investigation involving Intel's conduct between 2002 and 2006, the European Commission fined the chipmaker $400 million (EUR 376.3 million). The corporation prevented the sale of products using the x86 CPUs of its rivals, according to the European antitrust regulator.

The Commission fined the chipmaker EUR 1.06 billion ($1.13 billion) in 2009 after concluding that Intel had abused its position of market dominance. The General Court, the second-highest court in Europe with its headquarters in Luxembourg, dismissed this fine last year.

The EU antitrust authority reopened the case after the court found that the US chipmaker had improperly barred rival AMD from the market, according to news agency Reuters.

Additionally, it was discovered that Intel offered manufacturers like HP, Dell, and Lenovo covert incentives and rebates to purchase all or nearly all of their processors from Intel.

The committee found that Intel also paid manufacturers to postpone or altogether stop the release of goods using the CPUs of its competitors. These payments were referred to as "naked restrictions".

Intel's use of blatant limitations

"The General Court confirmed that Intel's naked restrictions amounted to an abuse of dominant market position under EU competition rules," the European Commission stated.

The commission made it clear that the only reason it reinstated the penalties against Intel was for its use of bare limitations.

"The fine has nothing to do with Intel's practice of conditional rebates. The fine amount, which is determined by the same criteria as the Commission's 2009 decision, reflects the smaller breadth of the violation than was considered in that decision, it was added.