A decision by Intel, the U.S. microchip maker, to defy European antitrust investigators raised questions Wednesday about how the European Commission should handle the remainder of the investigation and discourage similar behavior in future.
“This is an unprecedented situation,” said Jonathan Todd, a spokesman for Neelie Kroes, the EU competition commissioner. “Never before has a company failed to defend itself by failing to reply to a statement of objections.”
Intel let a deadline to respond to the commission’s formal charges, known as a statement of objections, pass on Oct. 17. The company then brought a case at Europe’s second-highest tribunal, the Court of First Instance, asking for more time to respond and for the commission to consider more evidence. Intel lost that procedural appeal on Tuesday.
The commission, the executive agency of the European Union, has enforcement powers in antitrust matters. If Kroes rules that Intel broke European laws, then Intel’s behavior could lead the commission to impose a larger fine than it would have done otherwise if the company had followed the set timetable.
In the meantime, the commission must decide whether to give Intel another chance to respond to the charges.
“We will see what Intel proposes to do and we will see what our response to that is,” Todd, Kroes spokesman, said.
The commission accuses Intel of abusing its dominant position in computer chips by giving large rebates to computer makers, by paying computer makers to delay or cancel product lines and by offering chips for powerful server computers at prices that are below actual cost. The EU investigation began in 2000 after a complaint by an Intel rival, Advanced Micro Devices, or AMD, which is also based in the United States. Last year, the Korea Fair Trade Commission fined Intel $25 million for its dealings with computer manufacturers, and the U.S….