The Indian Competition Authority closes an investigation into a chip manufacturer for allegedly abusively refusing to share product design information with a business partner (Velankani Electronics / Intel)

BRIEF FACTS Velankani Electronics Pvt. Ltd. (“Velankani/Informant”), a company engaged in the business of designing and manufacturing electronic products in India, including ‘servers’, filed an information against Intel Corporation (“Intel/OP”) alleging abuse of dominant position. Velankani, for the purpose of assembling servers and selling them in the market, executed a Manufacturing Enablement and Licensing Agreement (“MELA”) with Intel. However, in order to design its own server, Velankani sought to manufacture its own server-board so as to have a competitive edge and manufacture cost eective servers. Further, it was submitted that for servers to work, its various sub-assemblies, one of which is ‘processor’, need to interface with each other. However, a processor cannot be