Qualcomm is facing another competition investigation from the European Commission. In a SEC filing on its quarterly results, the company said it received a request for information from the Commission in December in an investigation into whether Qualcomm abused its dominant position in the market for 5G baseband processors in the RF front-end segment.
The company said it's in the process of responding. If a violation is found, it could face fines up to 10 percent of revenues as well as orders restricting its business practices. Qualcomm said it believes its business practices do not violate the EU competition rules.
If Qualcomm is found to violate the EU's competition rules, this would be the third such case against the company. Last July the company was fined EUR 242 million for abusing its dominance in 3G basebands with below-cost pricing to drive a potential rival out of the market. In 2018 it was fined EUR 997 million for abusing its dominant position in the 4G chips market, with special payments to secure an exclusive deal with Apple.
