Brussels, 15/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 14 October, the European Commission announced its decision to authorise the planned acquisition of Altera by Intel, both of which are American suppliers of different types of semiconductors, electrical components that can be found in virtually every electronic device today (mobile telephones, computers, household devices, cars, but also electronic equipment for use in large-scale industry and aerospace).
The Commissioner in charge of competition policy said that the swift approval of this operation shows “that multi-billion euro deals in complex industries can be cleared unconditionally after an initial investigation”.
The Commission's investigation focused on several semiconductor markets, where the activities of the companies are linked. In particular, it examined the vertical relationship between Intel's contract manufacturing services and Altera's activities in the supply of FPGAs ('field programmable gate arrays') and CPLDs ('complex programmable logic devices'). The Commission also looked at the potential anti-competitive effects arising from Intel's strong position on the market for central processing units (CPUs) on closely linked markets.
The Commission's investigation showed that Intel's position on the market for contract manufacturing services (with suppliers of semiconductors who do not have their own production facilities) was very limited and that demand for such services by Altera was low in relation to global market demand. Additionally, several competitors are present, both upstream and downstream. During its investigation, the Commission works closely with the United States Federal Trade Commission. (Original version in French by Élodie Lamer)