The European second-top court on Wednesday, September 18, basically confirmed the EU antitrust fine against the US chip manufacturer Qualcomm.
The mentioned measure of material impact in financial terms was reduced to 238.7 million euros ($265.5 million) from the initial amount of 242 million euros.
The European Commission has decided on a fine against the US chip manufacturer in 2019. At that time, this regulator stated that Qualcomm was involved in the commercial practice of selling its chipsets at a price that was lower than the cost price. The European Commission clarified that the relevant practice was implemented between 2009 and 2011 and characterized it as predatory pricing. Separately, it was noted that these actions by Qualcomm were aimed at thwarting the manufacturer of software for phones Icera, which is based in the United Kingdom and is part of the Nvidia ownership structure.
The US maker of microcircuits claims that the share of the 3G baseband chipsets, which appear in the mentioned proceedings, in the market of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is only 0.7%. The company positions this fact as evidence that it did not have the opportunity to exclude competitors from the chipset market.
The Luxembourg-based General Court said that all pleas put forward by Qualcomm were examined in detail and rejected in full, except a plea on the calculation of the fine amount, which is partially well-founded.
Qualcomm can appeal on points of law to the EU Court of Justice. The chip manufacturer has not yet responded to a media request for comment on the European second-top court decision.
As we have reported earlier, Qualcomm Revenue Beats Estimates.
