In 2009 ruling the Commission, the EU's top antitrust authority, found that between October 2002 and October 2007 Intel sought to exclude its main competitor, AMD from the x86 processor market. It granted exclusivity rebates to four PC and server manufacturers, Dell, HP, Lenovo and NEC, the Commission found.

Intel also made payments to Media-Saturn on condition that the German distributor sold PCs with only Intel processors inside, the Commission said. The rebates and payments made it harder for other chip makers to compete, reducing consumer choice.

Having failed to convince the General Court of its innocence in its first appeal, Intel has one last chance to escape the fine: convincing the CJEU to overturn the lower court's ruling on a point of law. In 2014 it appealed setting out six grounds on which it thought the CJEU should overturn or, failing that, at least significantly reduce, the fine.

Yesterday's hearing was scheduled for just 55 minutes and it takes three to six months from the date of the hearing. Since the case is complex it might take until next year.