E.U. antitrust regulators impose a fine on Qualcomm for advancing its exclusive microchip deal with Apple.

Fiona Sydney

2018-01-17 05:30:00 Wed ET

European Union antitrust regulators impose a fine on Qualcomm for advancing its key exclusive microchip deal with Apple to block out rivals such as Intel and TSMC. The European Commission takes into account Qualcomm's multi-year dominance in the LTE microchip market with rapid mobile broadband connections. In recent times, Qualcomm attempts to force Apple and its Asian upstream suppliers to use its trademark microchips exclusively in return for lower licensing fees.

Qualcomm can thus unfairly cut out intense competition in the LTE chipset market. In fact, Qualcomm pays billions of U.S. dollars to Apple such that it would not buy from other microchip producers.

These payments represent not just price reductions, but the primary condition that Apple would exclusively use Qualcomm's baseband chipsets in all its iPhones and iPads. Several other smart phone rivals such as Lenovo, OPPO, Vivo, and Xiaomi express an active interest in buying $2 billion Qualcomm chipsets over 3 years. No microchip rivals would be able to effectively challenge Qualcomm in this particular market regardless of product quality improvements.

The European Commission thus has to penalize Qualcomm for its anti-competitive market behavior. This E.U. regulatory decision has deep economic implications for Apple and other mobile device suppliers and manufacturers worldwide.

 


If any of our AYA Analytica financial health memos (FHM), blog posts, ebooks, newsletters, and notifications etc, or any other form of online content curation, involves potential copyright concerns, please feel free to contact us at service@ayafintech.network so that we can remove relevant content in response to any such request within a reasonable time frame.

Blog+More

Business titans often step away from their urgent work, slow down, and invest in self-enrichment.

Laura Hermes

2017-12-23 10:40:00 Saturday ET

Business titans often step away from their urgent work, slow down, and invest in self-enrichment.

Despite having way more responsibility than anyone else, top business titans such as Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, and Oprah Winfrey often step away from

+See More

Facebook, Twitter, and Google executives explain the scope of Russian interference in the U.S. 2016 presidential election.

Apple Boston

2017-09-19 05:34:00 Tuesday ET

Facebook, Twitter, and Google executives explain the scope of Russian interference in the U.S. 2016 presidential election.

Facebook, Twitter, and Google executives head before the Senate Judiciary Committee to explain the scope of Russian interference in the U.S. presidential el

+See More

President Trump escalates the current Sino-American trade war by imposing 25% tariffs on $200 billion Chinese imports.

Rose Prince

2018-08-03 07:33:00 Friday ET

President Trump escalates the current Sino-American trade war by imposing 25% tariffs on $200 billion Chinese imports.

President Trump escalates the current Sino-American trade war by imposing 25% tariffs on $200 billion Chinese imports. These tariffs encompass chemical prod

+See More

President Trump sounds smart when he comes up with a fresh plan to retire $15 trillion national debt.

Peter Prince

2018-08-07 07:33:00 Tuesday ET

President Trump sounds smart when he comes up with a fresh plan to retire $15 trillion national debt.

President Trump sounds smart when he comes up with a fresh plan to retire $15 trillion national debt. This plan entails taxing American consumers and produc

+See More

Federal Reserve remains patient on future interest rate adjustments due to trade and fiscal budget negotiations.

Becky Berkman

2019-02-04 07:42:00 Monday ET

Federal Reserve remains patient on future interest rate adjustments due to trade and fiscal budget negotiations.

Federal Reserve remains patient on future interest rate adjustments due to global headwinds and impasses over American trade and fiscal budget negotiations.

+See More

Admitting China to the WTO seems ineffective in imparting economic freedom and democracy to the communist regime.

Dan Rochefort

2018-07-27 10:35:00 Friday ET

Admitting China to the WTO seems ineffective in imparting economic freedom and democracy to the communist regime.

Admitting China to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other international activities seems ineffective in imparting economic freedom and democracy to th

+See More