EU fines chipmaker Qualcomm 1 bn euros for Apple deal

by the EU against US tech giants and also a fresh hit for Qualcomm, the leading global supplier of smartphone chips, following another antitrust fine of $800 million imposed by authorities in Taiwan last year.

“Qualcomm cemented its position by illegally shutting out rivals from the market for over five years,” Vestager told a press conference.

“Between 2011 and 2016 Qualcomm paid billions of US dollars to a key customer, Apple, and the payment was to prevent Apple to buy from rivals,” Vestager said.

“This meant that no rival could effectively challenge Qualcomm in this market, no matter how good their products were.”

Qualcomm said it would appeal against the ruling.

“We are confident this agreement did not violate EU competition rules or adversely affect market competition or European consumers,” Qualcomm’s Don Rosenberg said in a statement.

The deal involved so-called chipsets that enable smartphones to send and receive voice calls and data over cell networks.

The Danish commissioner said that Qualcomm had “denied consumers and other companies more choice and innovation”.

Vestager said the EU’s twoand-a-half year probe uncovered internal Apple documents showing it was “seriously thinking about switching” to Qualcomm’s rival Intel on several occasions. (AFP)