Qualcomm saw its shares fall on the US stock market by 4%, after China launched an antitrust probe against the US-based mobile chipmaker. The probe was launched, allegedly due to the company’s failure to declare certain undertakings of its acquisition of Autotalks.
According to China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), the probe will be investigating whether or not the company violated the country’s anti-monopoly law, with regard to its acquisition of the Israeli firm. The acquisition was completed in June of this year, with the announcement having been made a little more than two years ago.
Qualcomm isn’t the first US tech company to be cast into China’s spotlight. As you may well know, NVIDIA is another major US tech brand that has drawn the ire of the Asian powerhouse, with the company currently suffering difficulties in selling its AI chips to companies there.
It also doesn’t help that the US and China are still currently at odds with each other, the latter recently having further tightened its control on the exportation of rare earth minerals to the former. US President Trump has, in turn, threatened to slap China with a new 100% tariff, accusing Beijing of pulling off some “very hostile” moves.
(Source: Reuters, The Guardian)
