During the course of its probe, the commission alleged that Intel had provided "substantial rebates" to leading European personal computer retailers to sell only Intel-based PCs, and that it had bribed manufacturers to delay the launch of products using AMD chips.
EU inspectors carried out surprise raids at Intel offices in Germany and at retailers in Britain and Germany in February 2008 as part of the probe.
Intel is the world's largest chipmaker by sales, with annual revenue totalling 37.6 billion dollars in 2008.
In theory, the commission could levy a maximum fine worth 10 per cent of that amount, or 3.7 billion dollars. But experts note that this has rarely happened before.
The highest single fine ever imposed by the commission on a private company - 899 million euros (1.23 billion dollars) - was slapped on software giant Microsoft in 2008.
In total, the software giant has been asked to pay 1.7 billion dollars for persistently refusing to offer competitors key software data at a fair price.
The Intel decision was expected to be announced by the commission during a press conference scheduled for 1130 CET. Intel is to hold a press conference "pertaining to the European Commission's competition case involving Intel" at 1300 CET. (dpa)
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