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

The Trump team blocks Broadcom's bid for Qualcomm due to national security concerns and 5G telecom network issues.

James Campbell

2018-03-06 11:35:00 Tuesday ET

The Trump team blocks Broadcom's bid for Qualcomm due to national security concerns and 5G telecom network issues.

The Trump team blocks Broadcom's bid for Qualcomm due to national economic security concerns and 5G telecom network issues. Broadcom makes microchips fo

+See More

Tech companies seek to serve as quasi-financial intermediaries.

Amy Hamilton

2019-03-03 10:39:00 Sunday ET

Tech companies seek to serve as quasi-financial intermediaries.

Tech companies seek to serve as quasi-financial intermediaries. Retail traders can list items for sale on eBay and then acquire these items economically on

+See More

OPEC countries have cut the global glut of oil production in order to boost the oil price in recent years.

Monica McNeil

2018-05-11 09:37:00 Friday ET

OPEC countries have cut the global glut of oil production in order to boost the oil price in recent years.

OPEC countries have cut the global glut of oil production in recent years while the resultant oil price has surged from $30 to $78 per barrel from 2015 to 2

+See More

North Korean leader and president Kim Jong-Un seeks peaceful resolution and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.

Olivia London

2018-04-11 09:37:00 Wednesday ET

North Korean leader and president Kim Jong-Un seeks peaceful resolution and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.

North Korean leader and president Kim Jong-Un seeks peaceful resolution and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula. When *peace* comes to shove, Asia

+See More

Apple upstream semiconductor chipmaker TSMC boosts capital expenditures to $15 billion with almost 10% revenue growth by December 2019.

John Fourier

2019-11-11 09:36:00 Monday ET

Apple upstream semiconductor chipmaker TSMC boosts capital expenditures to $15 billion with almost 10% revenue growth by December 2019.

Apple upstream semiconductor chipmaker TSMC boosts capital expenditures to $15 billion with almost 10% revenue growth by December 2019. Due to high global d

+See More

Top tech firms such as Google, Intel, and Qualcomm suspend Android services to HuaWei as the Trump administration blacklists the Chinese company.

Jonah Whanau

2019-06-01 10:33:00 Saturday ET

Top tech firms such as Google, Intel, and Qualcomm suspend Android services to HuaWei as the Trump administration blacklists the Chinese company.

Top tech firms such as Google, Intel, and Qualcomm suspend Android services to HuaWei as the Trump administration blacklists the Chinese company. HuaWei can

+See More