Qualcomm looks likely to shell out a massive $1 billion in payments to the Chinese government as part of a settlement deal, Reuters reports.
The fine follows a 14-month investigation by China into alleged anti-competitive practices on the part of Qualcomm.
According to the National Development and Reform Commission, Qualcomm is guilty of price fixing, as well as abusing its leader position in the chip market.
The Chinese regulator and Qualcomm reportedly made ‘significant process’ during talks last week, which could see the chip-maker pay out the full amount.
The deal is also likely to see Qualcomm drop its royalty rates across its patents used in China by roughly a third.
If the fine goes through, it will be the largest reparatory sum ever paid by a company in China.
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In the last fiscal year, which ended on September 28, 2014, Qualcomm earned some $26.5 billion in the country. That’s around half of its global revenue.
A hefty chunk of the company’s profits came from royalties associated to its licensing division.
Qualcomm is best known for its Snapdragon series, the most recently released of which is the Snapdragon 810. This is expected to land on several of this year’s flagship smartphones, most notably the Sony Xperia Z4, the LG G4, and the HTC One M9.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
