Intel wins in its recent antitrust dispute with the EU court.

Intel has achieved a significant victory against the European Union related to a €1.06 billion ($1.1 billion) fine imposed in 2009. According to the final ruling from the EU Court of Justice, it was concluded that regulators did not present adequate evidence to demonstrate that Intel provided illegal rebates to PC manufacturers. However, Intel's legal saga in Europe is not over, as it still faces a fine of €376 million ($406 million) imposed by the Commission last year.

In 2009, the EU determined that Intel had used hidden rebates to drive its competitors out of the CPU market. Additionally, it was established that the company paid manufacturers to delay or suspend the release of products featuring AMD processors, actions that were labeled as "evident restrictions." The legal process has been complicated and has dragged on for several years. In 2017, Europe’s highest court ordered a review of the fine, as the EU had not conducted an economic assessment of how Intel's actions affected its rivals.

In 2022, the European second-instance court confirmed that the Commission had conducted an incomplete analysis and annulled the €1.06 billion fine. At that time, it was established that the EU could not demonstrate whether Intel's rebates were "capable of having or likely to have anticompetitive effects" due to the incomplete assessment. The Commission appealed against this decision, but now the EU Court of Justice has confirmed the annulment of the fine.

Despite this outcome, Intel did not appeal the part related to the "evident restrictions" from previous rulings, which led to a new fine of €376 million based on those accusations last year. Currently, Intel is also challenging that penalty and has sued the EU to recover interest on the original higher fine.

The landscape of processors has changed dramatically since the 2009 ruling. Back then, Intel dominated the market with an 81% share of CPUs compared to AMD's 12%. Currently, Intel's share has dropped to 63%, as the company has faced challenges in chip production compared to its rival TSMC, which manufactures the majority of CPUs, GPUs, and AI processors for AMD and NVIDIA. Ironically, Intel has outsourced a significant portion of its production to TSMC and other foundries, representing around 30% of its manufacturing capacity. Fortunately, despite its production issues, it seems to have excellent legal support.