Qualcomm’s $1.2B Fine for Apple Chip Exclusivity

Top IT headline for this fine Humpday morning:

“EU fines Qualcomm €997M for abusing market dominance, says it paid Apple to buy LTE baseband chipsets from Qualcomm exclusively; Qualcomm to appeal.”

That from the EU press room.

Bloomberg writes that “Apple was cornered by Qualcomm with a 2011 deal that offered ‘significant’ sums and rebates if it only bought the company’s chips,” according to an EU mailed statement.

“Apple was seriously thinking of switching” from Qualcomm to Intel chips “which would have made a big difference to Intel” but couldn’t do so until its Qualcomm pact was about to expire in September 2016, EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager told reporters at a Brussels press conference.
– via Bloomberg.com

The antitrust fine, the EU’s third highest, comes as Qualcomm tries to fend off a $105 billion hostile takeover by rival Broadcom Ltd. and wages war with Apple in numerous court cases around the world over patent licensing. Qualcomm’s management is under pressure to show shareholders it can manage the Apple dispute and battles with regulators that have already led to fines in China and South Korea.
– via Bloomberg.com

 

So far, the market is shrugging the fine off, with Qualcomm shares just slightly down overnight.