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

Federal Reserve normalizes the current interest rate hike to signal its own independence from the White House.

Apple Boston

2019-01-08 17:46:00 Tuesday ET

Federal Reserve normalizes the current interest rate hike to signal its own independence from the White House.

President Trump forces the Federal Reserve to normalize the current interest rate hike to signal its own monetary policy independence from the White House.

+See More

Stock Synopsis: With a new Python program, we use, adapt, apply, and leverage each of the mainstream Gemini Gen AI models to conduct this comprehensive fundamental analysis of T-Mobile (U.S. stock symbol: $TMUS).

James Campbell

2025-10-06 10:27:00 Monday ET

Stock Synopsis: With a new Python program, we use, adapt, apply, and leverage each of the mainstream Gemini Gen AI models to conduct this comprehensive fundamental analysis of T-Mobile (U.S. stock symbol: $TMUS).

Stock Synopsis: With a new Python program, we use, adapt, apply, and leverage each of the mainstream Gemini Gen AI models to conduct this comprehensive fund

+See More

Foxconn invests $10 billion in a new manufacturing plant for LCD display panels in Wisconsin.

Chanel Holden

2017-07-13 08:35:00 Thursday ET

Foxconn invests $10 billion in a new manufacturing plant for LCD display panels in Wisconsin.

President Donald Trump has announced that a major Apple iPhone upstream supplier, Foxconn Technology Group (aka Hon Hai Precision Group), will invest $10 bi

+See More

Global stock market investors foresee the harbinger of a major economic downturn.

Monica McNeil

2019-09-17 08:33:00 Tuesday ET

Global stock market investors foresee the harbinger of a major economic downturn.

Global stock market investors foresee the harbinger of a major economic downturn. Many stock market investors become anxious due to negative term spreads an

+See More

Warren Buffett points out that many people misunderstand his stock investment method in several ways.

Jonah Whanau

2017-06-21 05:36:00 Wednesday ET

Warren Buffett points out that many people misunderstand his stock investment method in several ways.

In his latest Berkshire Hathaway annual letter to shareholders, Warren Buffett points out that many people misunderstand his stock investment method in seve

+See More

Louis Kaplow strives to find a delicate balance between efficiency gains and redistributive taxes in the social welfare function.

Chanel Holden

2023-07-07 10:29:00 Friday ET

Louis Kaplow strives to find a delicate balance between efficiency gains and redistributive taxes in the social welfare function.

Louis Kaplow strives to find a delicate balance between efficiency gains and redistributive taxes in the social welfare function. Louis Kaplow (2010)

+See More