Good Company

CHAPTER 4The Political Imperative

Computer chip maker Intel, famous for its “Intel inside” motto, got dinged from the outside in 2009.

Outside the marketplace, that is. European regulators slapped Intel with a record-large fine of $1.45 billion for abusing its dominant position in the market for a class of computer chips.¹ After a lengthy probe of the market for chips known as x86 central processing units, the European Commission concluded that Intel engaged in illegal anticompetitive practices such as making direct payments to a major retailer on condition it stock only computers with Intel x86 chips.

“Intel has harmed millions of European consumers by deliberately acting to keep competitors out of the market for computer chips for many years,” ...