Qualcomm has been in the news a bit lately over some patent disputes with Apple that have been going on for years. A recent decision caused iPhone sales to be halted in China. Today though, Intel wrote a blog post called 'Another Attempt to Stifle Competition', saying that what Qualcomm is doing is harmful to consumers.
Moreover, Intel says that this is purposeful. Vice president and general counsel for Intel Steven Rodgers makes the claim that, "Qualcomm’s goal is not to vindicate its intellectual property rights, but rather to drive competition out of the market for premium modem chips, and to defend a business model that ultimately harms consumers." It's unclear how Intel is aware of Qualcomm's motives, or if Rodgers is just speculating.
The blog post also cites Qualcomm being fined "nearly a billion dollars in China, $850 million in Korea, $1.2 billion by the European Commission and $773 million in Taiwan (later reduced in a settlement) for anti-competitive practices."
But it all comes down to modems. The vast majority of 4G LTE modems in the United States come from Qualcomm, and Intel wants in on that action too. Intel is now making all of the LTE modems that go into iPhones, which is why it matters to the firm if these devices get banned in large markets like China.
All companies protect their intellectual property though, no matter what the motivation behind it is. It was only a year and a half ago that Intel was threatening Qualcomm with litigation over the x86 emulation that goes in Windows 10 PCs that have Snapdragon chips, although nothing came of that.
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