European Commission Opens Two Investigations into Possible Abuse of Market Dominance by Qualcomm

The European Commission on Thursday said that it has opened two investigations into possible abuse of market dominance by chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. It is so far the latest step from European Commission in a string of antitrust and tax inquiries into major U.S. corporations.

The European regulators said that the first investigation will examine whether the chipmaker offered financial incentives to its customers if they agreed to purchase exclusively or almost exclusively from Qualcomm.

Qualcomm Inc., is the market leader in chips used for voice and data transmission in smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices.

The second investigation will check whether Qualcomm was engaged in 'predatory pricing' by charging at less than cost with a view to forcing competitors out of the market.

European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said, "We are launching these investigations because we want to be sure that high-tech suppliers can compete on the merits of their products".

Vestager said several customers use electronic devices such as a mobile phone or a tablet, but they want to ensure that they ultimately get value for money.

Some other US corporations have already appeared on the EU's radar, where antitrust investigators are looking into possible market abuse like by Google and the ebook business of Amazon, as well as the European tax affairs of Amazon, Apple and Starbucks.

Qualcomm said in a statement that it was quite disappointed to hear about the new EU investigation. It further said that they have been cooperating so far and will continue to cooperate with the Commission.

Qualcomm this year agreed to pay a fine of $975 million to end a 14-month Chinese government investigation into anti-competitive practices.