The European Commission (EC) has opened two formal antitrust investigations against Qualcomm, probing whether the company abused its dominant market position and engaged in predatory pricing to drive out compeition.
Under the first investigation, the commission will determine whether Qualcomm broke EU law by offering customers financial incentives to lure them to buy its baseband chipsets.
It focuses on the company’s conditions associated to the supply of several chipsets that comply with 3G (UMTS) and 4G (LTE) standards and are used to offer cellular mobile connectivity in smartphones and tablets.
The second probe will look into whether Qualcomm used predatory pricing in order to force competitors out of the market.
It is related to the company’s pricing practices with respect to certain chipsets that comply with 3G (UMTS) standards and are used to provide cellular mobile connectivity.
EU Commissioner in charge of competition policy 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.
"Many customers use electronic devices such as a mobile phone or a tablet and we want to ensure that they ultimately get value for money. Effective competition is the best way to stimulate innovation."
Qualcomm said it was disappointed about the investigation and the claims were without merit.
The company said: "This step allows investigators to gather additional facts, but it represents neither an expression by the Commission on the merits of the case nor an accusation against the Company."
Apart from Qualcomm, Google, Apple and Amazon are also facing similar antitrust investigations in Europe.
