Intel was not only charged with but found guilty and fined in European Union court for 1.45 billion dollars. That far surpasses the fine that they imposed on Microsoft in 2004 (they only got 498 million). In fact that is the larges to date in EU's courts. It doesn't stop there with Intel also. They are also being looked at by the US Antitrust and the Japanese & South Korea's courts.

So why the fines? Well Intel was charged and found guilty of paying off manufactures to postpone or cancel production of pc's with their competitors (AMD) chip. While intel claims that they have not just that they are a much larger manufacture of chips then AMD and that they sell their chips discounted to manufactures based on the amount that they purchase.

EU hands down record antitrust fine to Intel

EU regulators on Wednesday slapped a record 1.06 billion euro ($1.45 billion) fine on Intel Corp for antitrust violations and ordered it to halt illegal efforts to squeeze out arch-foe AMD.

Analysts say the move, which Intel CEO Paul Otellini vigorously contested, may help AMD recoup some of the market share lost to its bigger and nimbler rival over past years, but is not expected to radically transform Intel's operation.

The decision may also force U.S. regulators to act, analysts say, with South Korea and Japan already accusing the company of antitrust violations.

So I'm curious in your house how many pc's do you have that contain Intel or AMD (our own geekdrop study)?