On Wednesday, the European Court of Justice has imposed a fine that the European Commission imposed on the American chip manufacturer Qualcomm in 2018. “completely destroyed”† The Court held that Qualcomm was unable to defend itself properly because of “procedural irregularities” and invalidated the committee’s analysis because of those errors.
The Commission, which oversees fair competition within the EU, imposed a fine of EUR 997 million on Qualcomm. The company is said to have made unfair agreements with Apple between 2011 and 2016, to which it paid billions to be the only company to supply chips for iPhones and iPads. European competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager called this “illegal” and said Qualcomm was hindering the option of more choice and innovation for competitors and consumers.
The European Commission said it would study the judgment before announcing next steps, according to Reuters news agency. The European Court of Justice has given the EU’s executive board two months to appeal.
The removal of the fine is a major defeat for the European Commission, which also imposed a multimillion-dollar fine on Qualcomm in 2019. At that time, too, the Commission ruled that the company had been guilty of abuse of power. By selling chips below cost, competitors were disadvantaged. In addition, since 2020 an investigation has been underway into possible abuse of power in the sale of chips for 5G technology.