The European Commission’s decision to fine Intel over $1.5 billion for what it termed as “illegal” competitive practices that harmed customers in the European Union (EU) left U.S.-based system builders scratching their heads over the outcome.
The EC released a document that detailed e-mail exchanges between Intel and computer manufacturers. EC antitrust officials described the e-mail exchanges as “smoking gun” evidence in the probe, which resulted in the chip maker being fined €1.06 billion (US$1.45 billion) in May. Monday, the EU published a 518-page document that detailed its case.
“This decision reflects the underlying bias we have come to expect from the case team that ran this investigation,” Mulloy said. “We are convinced that the commission’s conclusions regarding our business practices are wrong, both factually and legally.”
Most surprising of all is the EC’s explanation of rebates Intel allegedly provided to Dell Computer in exchange for limited exclusivity, the existence of which has actually not been denied. A thorough read of the evidence explained by the Commission reveals that the rebate program was apparently conceived by Dell, not Intel. And although e-mails between redacted Dell executives did warn of possible retributions by Intel had their deal not been kept as promised, those same e-mails indicate Dell had other reasons of their own to pursue exclusivity.
The EU document widely redacts names and figures, and it is impossible to know the emails’ senders and recipients, or precisely how big the rebates or payments were.
Intel has appealed the EU’s decision. In a statement Monday, the company said the regulator had cherry-picked evidence, drawn conclusions that were “wrong, both factually and legally” and “relied heavily on speculation found in emails from lower level employees that did not participate in the negotiation of the relevant agreements.”
Intel unsuccessfully went to court in Luxembourg to try to force the EU to seek additional documents in the case, and it complained successfully to the European Ombudsman that the regulator failed to take notes of a meeting between EU officials and a Dell executive who provided potentially exculpatory information.