A one billion euro antitrust fine from the EU against Intel is set to be reviewed by the European Court of Justice this week, as tech giants including Google and Apple continue to come under fire.
The billion euro fine against Intel was issued in 2009 under the accusation of using its position to suppress competition in the computer chip market, mirroring the tone of a recent competition related fine against Google.
The final decision on the review will reverberate around the world as its details guide regulators, and influence ongoing investigations.
When the EU first issued the major fine in 2009 following a long investigation, Intel stood in defiance to the ruling, leading to an appeal against it in 2014 that was refused.
In the event that Wednesday’s result goes in Intel’s favour, the company will have succeeded in taking on the EU and coming up trumps, perhaps influencing the approach of other tech giants that have come under legal fire from the EU.
In 2016, Google was slammed by a £2.23 billion fine that took the record from the one incurred by Intel in 2009, under the accusation of using its search engine dominance to boost its own shopping offering.
Having had to pay the tremendous fine, the EU also ruled that Google must issue a plan of how it intended to become compliant with EU rules. In addition to the fine, a deadline of the 28th of September was put in place by which Google had to become compliant.
READ MORE: Google outlines plans for EU compliance following £2bn fine
Since the issuing of the fine and the deadline warning, Google has made moves to deliver a plan of how it intends to become compliant with EU rules.
The severity of this fine impacted the share price of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, prompting a three per cent fall, despite otherwise very strong financial results.
