China: Record fine for Qualcomm in anti-corruption probe
Chinese government pursues wide-ranging campaign against corruption
ANKARA
Chinese antitrust authorities have imposed a record fine of $994 million on U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm, the government announced on Tuesday.
The National Development and Reform Commission have found that the San Diego-based company has abused its market dominance by charging discriminatory fees when licensing mobile chip technologies.
The company’s business practices in licensing patents for its chips in China also were found to violate anti-competition regulations.
The Chinese market accounted for nearly half of the Qualcomm’s revenue.
Chinese manufacturers pay royalties for using of Qualcomm patents on mobile handsets.
The watchdog issued a fine of 8 percent of the company's revenue in the Chinese market for 2013.
The fine was the largest anti-trust fine in China's history in an investigation that began in 2013.
In a statement on Tuesday, Qualcomm said that, in the future, it would sell its licenses in China for 3G and 4G technology separately from its other products, and that, in the future, it would negotiate "in good faith" with Chinese clients.
The record fine shows that Chinese president Xi Jinping’s wide-ranging anti-corruption campaign is not losing any momentum. The campaign initially focused on the oil industry, but has moved on to other companies whose executives do not have any clear ties to China’s most senior leaders.
