Published in PC Hardware

Qualcomm fined $773 million by Taiwan watchdog

by on12 October 2017


Company says it disagrees

Qualcomm has been fined a record $773 million by Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission in the latest blow from regulators over the way the US company prices mobile phone chips and patents.

The watchdog growled that Qualcomm had been violating antitrust rules for at least seven years and Qualcomm collected NT$400 billion in licensing fees from local companies during that time.

Qualcomm disagrees with the decision and intends to appeal.

“Qualcomm intends to seek to stay any required behavioral measures and appeal the decision to the Taiwanese courts after receiving the TFTC’s formal decision, which is expected in the next several weeks. The fine bears no rational relationship to the amount of Qualcomm’s revenues or activities in Taiwan, and Qualcomm will appeal the amount of the fine and the method used to calculate it”, the outfit said.

The Taiwanese regulator claimed Qualcomm has monopoly market status over key mobile phone standards and by not providing products to clients who don't agree with its conditions, the US company is violating local laws.

It said Taiwanese companies had purchased $30 billion worth of Qualcomm baseband chips

Besides the fine, the Fair Trade Commission told Qualcomm to remove previously signed deals that force competitors to provide price, customer names, shipment, model name and other sensitive information as well as other clauses in its agreements.

Last modified on 12 October 2017
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