Qualcomm reaches settlement with Taiwan regulator in anti-trust case

US-based chip-maker Qualcomm has announced that it has mutually agreed to a settlement with the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission (TFTC), after being slapped with a $774 million fine for antitrust violations.

As part of the agreement, Qualcomm comes to the entitlement to only pay an amount of $93 million -- that the company already paid in July-end -- which would be retained by the TFTC with no amount due, the chipset-maker wrote in a blog post late on Friday.

"This settlement directly addresses concerns raised by the TFTC, regardless of disputed positions, and builds on our foundation of collaborative, long-term business relationships in Taiwan," Alex Rogers, Executive Vice President and President, Qualcomm Technology Licensing, said in a statement.

The San Diego-based company would now also work with the TFTC and its sister agencies within the Taiwanese government to implement the 5G roll-out under regulations put in place by the Taiwanese regulator.

"In addition, Qualcomm will drive certain commercial initiatives in Taiwan over the next five years for the benefit of the mobile and semiconductor ecosystem including 5G collaborations, new market expansion, start-up and university collaborations and the development of a Taiwanese centre for operations and manufacturing engineering," Qualcomm added.

The dispute arose after Taiwan's regulator reportedly said that the chip-maker abused its monopoly power over smartphone modems by putting higher patent licensing fees on companies that use the devices in their products.

The initial anti-trust fine of $774 million was announced to Qualcomm in October 2017 at Taiwan which claimed that the firm was giving other chip-makers a run for their businesses.

Apart from Taiwan, China and South Korea have also previously fined Qualcomm over anti-competitive behaviours and Apple has also put forth several lawsuits against the chip-maker for similar practices.

--IANS

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