Intel Hit With $1.45 Billion Fine From EU

[Guest]

Doesn't Europe own most of AMD through EU subsidy? I mean it's a sleazy thing that Intel's accused of doing, but even if it's true this still smells a bit of European trade protectionism in favor of AMD.

 

[millerm84]

The strange part of this is that if Intel had looked at each OEM's proposed retail sales for each year and sold them a solid number of CPUs at a discount biased on those numbers instead (ie HP thinks they can sell 100,000 units Intel says Sell 60,000 of our CPUs and get a percentage off) they wouldn't be here.

But delaying launches and such was a little on the stupid side.

My only question is now will the EU go after the OEMs. I mean Intel can offer all they want, but it's only illegal if it actually happens and both parties have to commit before that. So why isn't HP, Dell, or who ever it is not being fined in the manner?

 

[yonef]

how much you say?
$1.45 Billion according to TH
$1.50 Billion according to TG Dayly http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/42430/135/
$2.20 Billion according to CNN http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2009/05/13/european-commission-to-rule-on-intel-anti-trust-case/

 

[vincevdc]

The EU ruling is not about competition or "fairness", it's about protectionism. AMD has a fab in the EU, Intel does not.

All this ruling will do is drive up the cost of processors and hurt consumers world wide.

 

[cablechewer]

The point is supposed to be that government represents the people. It sets rules on their behalf and enforces those rules on their behalf. In this case the government, on behalf of the people, has passed laws to ensure fair competition in the marketplace. The inherent assumption of both the people and the government is that if the playing field (marketplace) is level the people will win by having choices that are not unfairly dictated or mandated by a large corporate entity.

The only issue here *should* be whether Intel violated those laws that keep the playing field level. If they did then the government has the responsibility to collect a fine on behalf of their people (on the assumption that those people are harmed by violations of the laws). The money should not go to AMD or any other corporate entity. By going to the government it is, at least indirectly, going to the people and hopefully will be spent responsibly on programs those people value.

I know this whole post is hopelessly optimistic *sigh*. Politics, greed, ignorance and FUD will always have their parts on this stage as well.

 

[ThePatriot]

oouch!!
This gotta hurt
Chuckle

 

[bill gates is your daddy]

"Once final judgment has been delivered in any appeals before the Court of First Instance (CFI) and the Court of Justice, the money goes into the EU’s central budget, thus reducing the contributions that Member States pay to the EU."

AMD is wronged by Intel monopoly + EU fines Intel $1.45 bil = AMD gets $0.00

What is the reason behind this again?

 

[deltatux]

[citation][nom]yonef[/nom]how much you say?$1.45 Billion according to TH$1.50 Billion according to TG Dayly http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/42430/135/$2.20 Billion according to CNN http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2009/ [...] rust-case/[/citation]

That's based on the conversion rate each publication uses. It's 1.06 billion euros.

 

[Xenophage]

This will translate to higher prices. Thanks EU! Fuckers.

 

[68vistacruiser]

I'll never buy another AMD product after this BS.

 

[bigrog]

[citation][nom]bill gates is your daddy[/nom]Are you retarded or do you take night classes on how to become a world-class douche?[/citation]

LMFAO!!!! Excellent burn! To me it seems like a lot of people are missing the point. Intel lost, not because they have the fastest processor (at the moment). They were snuffing out the competition (AMD). I'm going to give just one example, and it's probably the biggest. Take a look at Dell. Dell was an Intel ONLY product for over 21 years. As a consumer, you could not purchase an AMD based computer from Dell until November 2006.

Of course during that time, there were countless articles and "leaked emails" flying around accusing Intel of the very thing that the EU found them guilty of....

Besides... If this action by the EU actually levels the playing field (maybe, maybe not), you better expect the competition to get even hotter. Which is great for all of us because the cost to build a computer will plummet.

 

[Guest]

to everyone wondering where the money is going... the EU government just ordered 74000 (yea, you read the number right) of Dell PCs equiped with AMD processors. thats 100 million USD right there.

Of course the fine goes to the EU budget, which in turn all taxpayers in the EU should benefit from...

However, I think Intel needed a kick into their nuts

 

[yonef]

That's based on the conversion rate each publication uses. It's 1.06 billion euros.

If you look close enough you'll see that it is in US Dollars ($) as well as in EURO (€)

TH said $1.45 billion
TG Dayly said $1.50 billion (OR €1.06 billion )
CNN said $2.2 billion (OR €1.6 billion )

there is nothing to do with conversation rates as long as 1 US $ = 1 US $ ( or €1 = €1)

 

[norbs]

I dunno seems like a lose/lose for consumers... Where is this money going?

 

[The Schnoz]

[citation][nom]bill gates is your daddy[/nom]"Once final judgment has been delivered in any appeals before the Court of First Instance (CFI) and the Court of Justice, the money goes into the EU’s central budget, thus reducing the contributions that Member States pay to the EU."AMD is wronged by Intel monopoly + EU fines Intel $1.45 bil = AMD gets $0.00What is the reason behind this again?[/citation]
I was just about to say the same thing. +1

 

[IzzyCraft]

[citation][nom]matt2k[/nom]I hope this means lower prices all round though it will likely only affect OEM builds n such. tis a pity.and that is taking into account that intel will stop doing this...[/citation]
IT would mean higher prices lol they are getting fined for making their prices too low to oems so they wont consider using amd lol.

 

[IzzyCraft]

In a statement this morning, the EU’s Competition Commissioner says Intel “harmed millions of European consumers deliberately” and the fines shouldn’t surprise anyone. "Given that Intel has harmed millions of European consumers by deliberately acting to keep competitors out of the market for over five years, the size of the fine should come as no surprise," said Neelie Kroes.

Lol OH THE HARM they got quality cpu's for less money omg they must be so angry! i mean core 2 duo rated as the best quad and dual core chips for years dear got wth is intel thinking selling us that trash. God dam this just seems like a money grab.

 

[curnel_D]

"Intel indicated that, if upheld, the ruling will impact the sales and marketing staff in Europe."Source: TGDaily

So intel will be doing exactly what they're forced to do. The EU commission fines them a record breaking amount to help solve their eonomic problems, and meanwhile forces intel to burn off it's European workforce. That money has to come out of someone's ass. And it might as well be the Europeans, since their elected officials seem to think they have all the answers.

Intel works with OEM's to lower Computer prices in light of a declining economy.
The European Union forces intel to lay off thousands of employees through extravegant fines based on charges that have yet to be proven.

Who's hurting the consumer more here?

 

[IronRyan21]

Read this article from a more detailed site like foxnews.com it really shows how heavy handed intel was. (foxnews.com) "The discounts were so steep that only a rival that sold chips for less than they cost to make would have any chance of grabbing customers, the EU executive said.

It said AMD offered 1 million free chips to one manufacturer — which could not accept because that would lose it a rebate on many millions of other chips. It only took 160,000 free chips in the end, regulators said."

 

[IzzyCraft]

I don't feel sorry for the customers i would if amd would have made better chips a bit sooner instead of letting intel trounce them in the performance benchmarks year after year sence core 2 duo's release.

 

[antilycus]

serves them right. I am actually shocked that some sort of government held someone responsible. Here in the U.S. we reward those evil execs that destory 13 million lives. We punish them by giving them free money... i hope they learn their lesson!

 

[ravenware]

[citation][nom]nerdherd[/nom]I'd like to know this same thing...if the fine goes to the EU only then it's just a load of bull. Since they are fining them for hurting the "consumers" then either the money should go to those millions of consumers or the money should go to competitors as payments for lost revenue. Anyone know how it actually works?[/citation]

Exactly,
Who is to say intel wouldn't take it out on the customers by raising chip prices to cover court costs and fines? What if they decide to can enough people to cover 1.45Bil in fines?

To whom is this money going? If the consumers already bought intel pcs you would have then prove that they were some how ripped off and try to devalue the systems they purchased. The real issue here should be trying to muscle their major competitors out of the market place, shouldn't there be damages awarded to AMD?

 

[IzzyCraft]

To their logic Intel harmed the customers by not allowing selection, they have no claim of harm to quality of product...which in at least US law there is no harm in quality to price then there is no harm at all done. By the EU's logic the money should go to AMD to what they would have made, but amd didn't pull the lawsuit and the EU words it as the harm is to the comsumer? so on the comsumer behalf for europoe the EU get's the money?

Really they could have done it better then just fineing them cuz to me just looks like a money grab.

Also to EU law up to 10% of annual profits why wouldn't they choose a less arbitray number like the expected profits that amd would have made? But then again that would make the eu give the money to amd.

 

[antilycus]

and what if Intel doesnt pay? What is the EU going to do? No point in penalty if there isn't a problem for not obeying!

 

[fuser]

The $1.5B will go into the EU general fund, which will help the EU reps fund private jet travel to and from the meetings where they discuss how terrible it is that Intel is picking on the little guy.