The EU's top court on Wednesday ordered a lower court to reconsider its rejection of an appeal by US chip giant Intel against one of the EU's biggest-ever fines for breaking competition rules.

The decision by the European Court of Justice keeps alive one of the longest running EU competition court cases in history that could have a huge impact in similar cases against Google and chipmaker Qualcomm. 

"The Court refers the case back to the General Court so that it may examine, in the light of the arguments put forward by Intel, whether the rebates at issue are capable of restricting competition," the court said in a statement