Chip-making giant Intel fined $2B over patent infringement

An Intel representative said "we will prevail" in an appeal and that it "strongly disagrees with today's jury verdict."

San Francisco: A court in the US ordered chip-making giant Intel to pay nearly $2.18 billion to VLSI Technology, an affiliate of SoftBank-owned Fortress Investment Group, for alleged infringement of two patents.

Intel vowed to fight the judgement, the Mobile World Live, published by GSMA, reported on Wednesday.

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An Intel representative said “we will prevail” in an appeal and that it “strongly disagrees with today’s jury verdict.”

The federal jury in Texas found that Intel infringed two patents owned by VLSI Technology covering ways to accelerate speed and power of computing chips.

Professor Mark Lemley of Stanford Law School said in a tweet the award was the “second largest patent verdict ever.”

However, he added that “I believe every patent verdict over $1 billion has been overturned or reduced on appeal. We’ll see if this one survives”.

Intel had earlier requested the postponement of the lawsuit, citing the Covid-19 crisis, but a federal judge rejected the plea.

The hefty fine, could have serious implications for Intel which is facing tough competitions from companies like AMD and NVIDIA.

However, Intel said that it will appeal the verdict.