LUXEMBOURG, May 16 (Reuters) - U.S. chipmaker Intel ( INTC )

on Friday sparred with EU antitrust regulators over a

376 million euro ($421.4 million) fine levied nearly two years

ago for excluding rivals from the market, arguing that it was

disproportionate and unfair.

The case dated to 2009 when the European Commission slapped

a then-record 1.06 billion euro fine on Intel ( INTC ) for blocking rival

Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ).

The tech giant managed to convince the General Court,

Europe's second-highest, to scrap the penalty in 2022.

Judges however agreed with one part of the Commission's 2009

decision, prompting the EU competition watchdog to re-impose a

376 million euro fine for payments made by Intel ( INTC ) to HP,

Acer and Lenovo ( LNVGF ) to halt or delay rival

products between November 2002 and December 2006.

Such practices are known as naked restrictions and are

frowned on by antitrust regulators. Intel ( INTC ) then took its case

back to the General Court, asking for the new EU decision and

penalty to be annulled.

Intel's ( INTC ) lawyer said the EU competition enforcer had not

taken into account the limited scope of the violations related

to HP, Acer and Lenovo ( LNVGF ).

"The Commission cannot sustain a finding that there was an

overall strategy to foreclose competitors from the entire x86

chips market. These were narrow, tactical moves," Daniel Beard

told the panel of five judges.

"The naked restrictions can't be treated as in effect of

equal weight to each of the pricing practices which were

overturned. Nor do they have the same sort of cumulative effect

or strategic weight. They, on their own, don't sustain an

overall, market-wide strategy finding," he said.

Beard said the Commission had imposed "a wholly

disproportionate and unfair" fine.

The EU watchdog rejected Intel's ( INTC ) arguments.

"The Commission correctly applied the finding guidelines,

and when in doubt, opted in Intel's ( INTC ) favour," its lawyer Pedro

Caro de Sousa said.

"The fine is clearly not disproportionate to the seriousness

of Intel's ( INTC ) conduct, amounting to 1% of its turnover on the last

year of the infringement, and about 0.5% of its turnover today,"

he said.

Both Intel ( INTC ) and the Commission called on the court to resolve

the issue by setting the size of the fine. A ruling is expected

in the coming months.

The case is 09:30 T-1129/23 Intel Corporation v Commission.

($1 = 0.8922 euros)