The European Commission today announced a record €1.06 billion fine for Intel for anti-competitive behaviour – essentially for striking deals with PC manufacturers to prevent them buying chips from rival AMD. More details from European Voice here. €1.06 billion is a hefty fine, and even on its own would equate to just under 1% of the EU’s total annual budget.

How would that place Intel as a member state? If we look at line by line of the 2009 budget [PDF, Table 6, total own resources column] a €1.06 billion payment actually would make Intel the 18th highest contributor to the EU budget – Bulgaria, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia each pay less each year into the EU budget than Intel will have to do with this one fine.

Time for them to have some representation in the Council of the EU and the Parliament if they are such a net payer?

[UPDATE 15.05.2009]
Saw this at Brussels Airport yesterday… The real one says ‘innovation’!

Intel - Collusion in Europe - J. Worth, CC Share Alike Attribute License