EU Slaps Qualcomm With $1.2 Billion Fine For Bribing Apple

The tech industry can be a ruthless environment, where companies regularly try to outdo each other to stay on top. Apparently, chip maker Qualcomm was so desperate to retain its crown that it bribed Apple to use only its own LTE chips. The EU found this practice to be intensely anti-competitive, which recently resulted in a fine worth $1.2 billion.

In a press release, the EU Commission confirmed that Qualcomm is going to be slapped with a hefty levy for its anti-competitive prices, namely paying Apple to not use it rivals’ LTE chips. The fine is worth €997 million, which is a lot, even for a giant like the chip maker. Margrethe Vestager, the commissioner who leads the commission’s competition policy said that this was a consequence of shutting out competitors from the LTE market by Qualcomm.

"Qualcomm illegally shut out rivals from the market for LTE baseband chipsets for over five years, thereby cementing its market dominance. Qualcomm paid billions of US Dollars to a key customer, Apple, so that it would not buy from rivals. These payments were not just reductions in price – they were made on the condition that Apple would exclusively use Qualcomm's baseband chipsets in all its iPhones and iPads,” Vestager said.

“This meant that no rival could effectively challenge Qualcomm in this market, no matter how good their products were. Qualcomm's behaviour denied consumers and other companies more choice and innovation – and this in a sector with a huge demand and potential for innovative technologies. This is illegal under EU antitrust rules and why we have taken today's decision."

As 9to5Mac notes, the EU Commission is particularly irked by Qualcomm’s threat to Apple that it would forfeit payments worth billions of dollars if it even thought about using any other company’s LTE chipset. The Cupertino firm would have also been forced to return the payments that it already did receive from the chip maker.