FTC begins Qualcomm investigation

Qualcomm Inc., the world’s second-largest maker of mobile phone chips, announced yesterday that it is being investigated by Korea’s antitrust agency. “The regulator has not informed us why we are being investigated,” said Oh Jae-ha, an executive at Qualcomm in Korea. Officials from the Fair Trade Commission visited the company’s office in southern Seoul on Tuesday, he said. The Fair Trade Commission refused to confirm anything. The investigation may be based on suspicions that Qualcomm is abusing its market dominance, say market observers. The investigation comes after six companies, including Nokia and Texas Instruments, filed a complaint in October with the European Commission over Qualcomm’s allegedly “excessive” royalties. Qualcomm owns most of the key patents for code division multiple access technology, a widely used wireless network standard. Korean handset makers including Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. pay royalties to Qualcomm. Korea’s antitrust agency is already investigating another chip giant, Intel Corp. In February the agency searched the Seoul office of Intel for evidence that the U.S. chipmaker had coerced computer manufacturers from using chips made by competitors. by Moon So-young