The European Union accuses the American manufacturer of selling at a loss between 2009 and 2011 a portion of its modems to suffocate one of its competitors. Not surprisingly, Qualcomm immediately appealed the decision.
Qualcomm faces a new fine punishing its commercial practices deemed anti-competitive. The manufacturer of electronic components has been ordered to pay the sum of 242 million euros.
Sales at a loss to cut down its main competitor in the modems market
This amount represents " 1.27% of Qualcomm's turnover in 2018 ", as recalled by the European Commission, which can impose fines of up to 10% of a company's annual turnover.
The European Union accuses Qualcomm of selling its 3G modems at a loss between 2009 and 2011 to two Chinese manufacturers, ZTE and Huawei, with the sole aim of crushing its direct competitor in the market, the British company Icera.
The maneuver had its effect. Icera, then considered a serious rival to Qualcomm, was finally bought by NVIDIA in 2011 before the US manufacturer closed the division in 2015, during the first investigations by the European Commission.
Qualcomm already pinned for its anticompetitive practices
Unsurprisingly, Qualcomm strongly disagrees with the Commission's judgment and will appeal the decision. Don Rosenberg, Qualcomm's legal director, explains that the latter " is not supported by law, economic principles or market facts " and that ZTE and Huawei have preferred Qualcomm chips to other components " not because of the price, but because the competing chips were technologically inferior. "
Qualcomm is not at its first sanction. The European Commission has already imposed a heavy fine of nearly one billion euros to the manufacturer in 2018, the sanction for having paid billions of dollars to Apple to maintain the exclusivity of the supply of its network chips.
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