EU hits Intel with massive fine

Jake Widman
Thursday, 14 May 2009 01:23

IT Policy - Regulation

While the ruling may do the European taxpayer some good, it's not clear if it'll be much benefit to Intel's competitors.

The anticompetitive practices were employed in a battle over share of the x86 market, a battle that's becoming less relevant.

According to Mercury Research, Intel has nearly 80 percent of the overall market for x86 processors -- but sales of those chips have shown a greater than 9 percent decline year-over-year.

Quoted in the Wall Street Journal , Gartner market analyst Martin Reynolds said, "Intel's greatest challenge will remain market growth, not market share."

To that end, the company is using new processors to develop markets in ultrathin notebooks , set-top boxes, and other new product areas.

For its part, AMD may benefit from the support the EC's fine may give to its civil suits against Intel, in which it can ask for damages.

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