WASHINGTON, May 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- TechNet, the bipartisan political network of CEOs that promotes the growth of the innovation economy, today released the following statement from acting CEO Jim Hawley regarding the European Union's decision of a record fine against the Intel Corporation.

"I have great concerns over today's decision by the European Union, its impact on innovation and the troubling trend of targeting of American high tech firms. The central threshold for anti-trust violations should be consumer harm as defined yesterday by U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Anti-Trust Christine Varney. But in this case, the average price of microprocessors has fallen dramatically in the last decade. My fear is that this ruling will lead to higher prices for computers and information technology equipment, a problematic result particularly in the current economic environment. And I'm concerned that this will divert research and development dollars that otherwise would have been spent on new cutting-edge discoveries here in the United States instead being sent to Europe to pay exorbitant fines."

About TechNet:

TechNet is the national, bipartisan network of CEOs that promotes the growth of technology industries and the economy by building long-term relationships between technology leaders and policymakers and by advocating a targeted policy agenda. TechNet's members represent more than one million employees in the fields of information technology, biotechnology, e-commerce and finance. TechNet has offices in Washington, DC, Palo Alto, Sacramento, Seattle, Boston, Austin, and Orange County (California). Web address: www.technet.org.

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