Intel has been handed down a record 1.06 Billion Euro ($1.45 billion) fine for antitrust violations in Europe regarding Intel’s long-time rival – AMD.

After over 8 years of investigation, European regulators have finally found Intel guilty of using illegal methods to prevent AMD from getting free access to the microchip market. These violations include special “payments” (read bribes) to computer manufacturers to exclude or delay the implementation of products using AMD chips. Intel was also found guilty of paying illegal rebates to encourage retailers to only stock products that contained Intel chips.

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

said Neelie Kroes, a European Union Competition Commissioner, in a news conference after the ruling.

As a result, Intel was called to immediately stop its illegal practices and pay the $1.45 billion fine within 3 months. This is the largest fine ever imposed by the EU, more than the 896 million euro fine in 2007 on Saint-Gobain for their price-fixing.

The ruling finally sees AMD’s pleas heard, who have been complaining that Intel has been practicing these methods for quite a few years now – ultimately shutting the door on AMD.

“The ruling is hugely important,”

says Nathan Brookwood, an anylst at Insight 64,

“MD has been out there for the last five or six years screaming that Intel has been keeping them from getting free access to markets.”

Despite optimism being expressed by AMD, experts believe that Intel will simply shrug off the fine and keep on dominating the market, as they have done since their introduction of the Core series of processors a few years ago. They (and myself included) believe that this will aid AMD’s market share by a small margin, but won’t cause Intel any serious harm.

Intel’s attempts at contesting the case have so far been unsuccessful.

[via Reuters]