Intel Says Qualcomm Tactics Forced It to Sell Its Modem Business to Apple at a ‘Multi-Billion Dollar’ Loss
Intel announced on Friday the company will be supporting the FTC in the ongoing appeal by Qualcomm. Back in May, the FTC found Qualcomm to be using anti-competitive tactics to push its competitors out of business, and Intel is supporting FTC’s decision.
The company filed a brief on Friday, stating that it sold its smartphone modem business to Apple back in July at a multi-billion dollar loss because of Qualcomm’s anti-competitive tactics.
“Intel suffered the brunt of Qualcomm’s anticompetitive behavior, was denied opportunities in the modem market, was prevented from making sales to customers and was forced to sell at prices artificially skewed by Qualcomm,” the company wrote in a separate blog post.
The chipmaker said that it had invested billions, hired thousands, and acquired two companies to build its word-class modem products, and fought for “nearly a decade” to build its modem chip business. The company argued its business couldn’t succeed because of the anti-competitive tactics used by Qualcomm that it says was “carefully crafted and implemented over many years”.
Qualcomm has, of course, denied FTC’s accusations. Intel is hoping the company’s new brief will help clarify the “harm” Qualcomm’s anti-competitive has caused. “We hope our amicus brief will help in clarifying the full extent of the harm that Qualcomm’s unlawful behavior has caused and will continue to cause if left unchecked,” the company said.