BRUSSELS (BELGIUM) – Europe’s General Court slashed Infineon Technologies’ fine on Wednesday by 7% to 76.87 million euros ($86.7 million). It ruled that the German chipmaking firm had fewer anti-competitive contacts with members of other cartels than what was alleged by EU antitrust regulators.
In 2014, the European Commission had slapped a fine of 138 million euros on Infineon, Philips and Samsung Electronics for being part of a cartel between 2003 and 2005. At 82.78 million euro ($93.3 million), the chipmaker’s penalty was the biggest.
Japanese chipmaker Renesas evaded a fine because it tipped off the EU competitor enforcer about the cartel.
“The Commission took insufficient account of the limited number of the anti-competitive contacts which Infineon had with its competitors and also found that company had a contact without succeeding in proving its existence,” judges said.
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