On July 27, the European Commission (EC) confirmed that it sent a Statement of Objections (SO) to Intel alleging that Intel infringed European competition rules on the abuse of a dominant position (Article 82) with the aim of excluding its main rival, AMD, from the x86 Computer Processing Units (CPU) market. In the SO, the EC alleges that Intel engaged in three types of abuse of a dominant market position. First, Intel allegedly provided substantial rebates to various Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) conditional on them obtaining all or the great majority of their CPU requirements from Intel. Secondly, Intel allegedly made payments in order to induce an OEM to either delay or cancel the launch of a product line incorporating an AMD-based CPU. Third, in the context of bids against AMD-based products for strategic customers in the server segment of the market, Intel allegedly offered CPUs on average below cost. The EC alleges that these three types of conduct were aimed at excluding AMD, Intel's main rival, from the market, and each exclusionary practice reinforced the other as part of a single, overall anti-competitive strategy. Intel has 10 weeks to reply to the SO, and will then have the right to be heard in an Oral Hearing.
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