'Ticket' constant Qualcomm, recently described as doom again and again.
January 24 evening news, the European Commission announced that it has decided to fine Qualcomm 997 million euros (about 1,229 million US dollars), which is the highest since the investigation of Qualcomm antitrust case the highest fine record, equivalent to Qualcomm's turnover in 2017 Of 4.9%.
The EU said Qualcomm abused its market-leading position by paying Apple for exclusive use of Qualcomm chips in its smartphones and tablets, while the EU's antitrust investigation of Qualcomm Inc. Still underway, the investigation involved whether Qualcomm sold part of its model chips below cost to crush its rival base-band chip maker Icera to get out of the market.
Qualcomm also suffered a new $ 800m ticket to Taiwan in January 25th: Qualcomm will pay 60 installments over a five-year period, after Qualcomm has been in default of a fine and paid the fine on January 22, 2018 The deadline for payment.
'The EU fines are by no means isolated matters and are likely to be related to the push from Apple Inc. Apple has filed a worldwide lawsuit against Qualcomm nearly a year before,' Beijing International Engineering Consulting Co., Ltd., a senior analyst in the IC industry, Beijing Semiconductor Industry Association Zhu Jing, director of technology research to 21st Century Business Herald reporter analysis, 'from last year, we believe that the entire mobile phone industry to enter a slow growth period, Apple's profits are also down, in this context, Apple Inc. No longer willing to share profits with suppliers, the preferred approach is to compete with Qualcomm.
Curse of apples?
Two US technology giants 'bribery', but the EU jumped out to open the sky-high ticket - Qualcomm by the key to the EU behind the ticket, it is difficult to make people think of Apple.
After more than two years of investigation, the European Union has decided that Qualcomm paid Apple billions of dollars 'rebate' between 2011 and 2016 to make exclusive use of Qualcomm LTE baseband chips for the latter's iPhone and iPad devices , Thus helping Qualcomm further consolidate the market position.
The so-called baseband chipset, which enables smartphones and tablets to connect to cellular networks for voice and data transmission, is a core component in smart devices, while LTE baseband chipsets meet the 4G long-term evolution standard.
Qualcomm is currently the world's largest supplier of LTE baseband chipsets, with 65% of Qualcomm's LTE baseband chipsets in 2015, based on data from baseband and RF analysis firm StrategyAnalytics, accounting for 52% of market share despite a decline in 2016 .
In the internal agreement between Qualcomm and Apple, if Apple introduces a product using Qualcomm's baseband chipset to the market, the 'rebate' payment will cease.Otherwise, if Apple decides to replace the supplier, Most of the payments made are returned to Qualcomm.
Apple is getting more and more impatient with such a rule.Although Apple received a "Qualification Fee" from Qualcomm's exclusive agreement in the EU investigation, the cellphone giant launched a global lawsuit against Qualcomm in 2017, suing the latter Adopting the 'exclusion policy and excessive royalties' has cost Apple companies billions of dollars over the past few years.
Apple's agreement with Qualcomm took place in 2011, when there were not many technically selectable partners for Apple and it was inferred from this perspective that it should be an agreement that both parties would have wished to make. "Zhu Jing told the 21st Century Business Herald Reporter bluntly, 'Frankly speaking, high through to the effect of the product is the best, even without this funding, Apple will largely choose Qualcomm, but ultimately things will be fixed through the form of funds.'
But now, once intimate 'comrades' chose to part ways, in the view of Zhu Jing, which is related to Apple's smartphone environment.' The entire mobile phone industry is experiencing a slow growth period, Apple also assumed a considerable Pressure In the past, when it was profitable, it could share dividends with its supply chain partners and now need to reschedule upstream.
One is evidence that Apple is increasing the self-study of baseband chips.At the end of 2017, media reports, iPhone will introduce MediaTek baseband, and increase the purchase of Intel baseband, but some insiders told the 21st Century Business Herald reporter, To MediaTek's orders, the baseband chip is designed by Apple, but delivered to MediaTek, the latter's name production.
Troubled
The EU ticket is not the first case of Qualcomm suffered.As a smartphone chip giant, in recent years Qualcomm has a series of regulatory authorities to punish the 'history' can be described as troubled.
In 2015, China's National Development and Reform Commission punished Qualcomm for abusing market dominance and imposed a 975 million U.S. dollar fine on the exclusion and restriction of the monopoly of the competition.At the end of 2016, Qualcomm was convicted of violating fair competition in Korea and received a total of 853 million U.S. dollars from antitrust regulators The FTC also filed an antitrust investigation against Qualcomm in just three weeks, with Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission fining Qualcomm $ 773 million in 2017, again due to its monopoly.
However, this time, Qualcomm's response to the EU's penalty is extremely strong, saying it will immediately appeal to the EU's Intermediate Court 'General Court.' But 21st Century Business Herald reporter learned that even if Qualcomm appeal to the EU Intermediate Court or even the Supreme Court , The company will still have to pay a large fines and adjust its own behavior during the time before the court finally penalizes the court or the penalty may last for several years.
Another trouble is 'Broadcom 105 billion acquisition of Qualcomm' shadow, while the current EU's Penalties for Qualcomm, will also have a series of chain reactions in this regard.Beijing time on January 25 morning, after the EU ticket is issued, the high-pass Closing at $ 67.98, a slight decrease of 0.53% .In addition, insiders said the penalty will to some extent become a reference for Apple's case of Qualcomm, the ensuing fines, litigation, or will drag the long-term Qualcomm shares.
Qualcomm's stock price volatility, is expected to increase Broadcom acquisition odds, which is still behind the heavy interest. 'Broadcom acquisition Qualcomm into reality, from the global handset industry chain, the biggest beneficiaries will in turn be Apple Inc.' Zhu Jing To the 21st Century Economic Reporter bluntly.
Some sources said that if the acquisition is completed, Broadcom plans to shut down Qualcomm's patent license business after a period of time because the business led to too much friction between the customer and Qualcomm.However, the profits from the patent license for Qualcomm's R & D innovation Activities provided funds.
'If this business is closed, Qualcomm's innovative ability to keep up with mobile phone chips will greatly affect the competitiveness of local handset vendors such as OPPO and Vivo that rely heavily on Qualcomm chips,' said Zhu Jing.