Intel

Intel fined $3 million by India’s antitrust regulator over discriminatory CPU warranty policy — says Intel abused its dominant position in the boxed processor market.

(Image credit: Getty / Justin Sullivan)
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Intel has been fined a sum of INR 27.38 crores (approximately $3.02 million) by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for allegedly abusing its dominant position in the boxed microprocessors (BMP) market. According to an order issued under Section 27 , India’s antitrust regulator found that Intel India violated Section 4 of the Competition Act of 2002 by implementing unfair warranty policies in the country.

As per a complaint filed by Matrix Info Systems Private Limited, Intel made changes to its warranty policies in India starting April 25, 2016, under which the chip-maker honored warranty support in India only for boxed processors bought from Intel-authorized distributors within the country. Due to this change, Intel denied warranty benefits to customers who purchased their processors from authorized sellers in other countries and were asked to claim the warranty in the country where the product was originally purchased.

Since the India-specific warranty policy was in place for eight years, the Commission imposed the fine based on 8% of Intel’s average relevant turnover during that period. However, the penalty amount was reduced considering mitigating factors, including the discontinuation of the aforesaid policy starting April 1, 2024. The CCI has also instructed Intel to publicly announce that it has withdrawn the India-specific warranty policy and to submit a report confirming its compliance.

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Kunal Khullar is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware.  He is a long time technology journalist and reviewer specializing in PC components and peripherals, and welcomes any and every question around building a PC.