EU court confirms 239 mln euro fine for Qualcomm

BRUSSELS -- US technology firm Qualcomm will have to pay a fine of 238.7 million euros ($265 million) for abusing its dominant position, the European Union's General Court ruled on Wednesday.

The European Commission originally imposed a fine of 242 million euros on Qualcomm in July 2019, saying it held a dominant position on the market of chipsets at a worldwide level at least from the start of 2009 till the end of 2011.

The Commission said that Qualcomm had abused its dominant position in those years by supplying some of its Universal Mobile Telecommunications System chipsets to Chinese Huawei and ZTE at below-cost prices with an intention of eliminating Icera, its main rival at the time.

Qualcomm sought to have the fine annulled or significantly reduced, citing procedural issues, including the excessive length of the investigation. However, the court dismissed all of Qualcomm's arguments except one concerning the fine's calculation, which resulted in a slight reduction.

The court pointed out that the Commission substantiated Qualcomm's intention to eliminate Icera from the market "by providing both direct and indirect evidence."