CHINA has imposed a record fine of 6.09 billion yuan (US$994 million) on mobile chipmaker Qualcomm following an anti-trust probe, it was announced yesterday.

    The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said the San Diego-based Qualcomm, the world’s largest chipmaker, was found to have abused its market dominance, charging discriminatory fees in the Chinese market when licensing mobile chip technology.

    “Qualcomm’s practices hampered innovation and technology development, harmed consumers’ rights and interests, and violated China’s relevant anti-monopoly rules,” the NDRC said in a statement.

    The watchdog issued a fine of 8 percent of the company’s revenue in the Chinese market for 2013, totaling 6.09 billion yuan, the largest anti-trust fine in China’s history.

    The “unfair” and “excessively high” royalties Qualcomm Inc. collected from Chinese smartphone makers were the key factors that led to the historic fine, the NDRC said.

    “Qualcomm refused to provide a patent list to its customers in China and out-of-date patents were included in the licensing package and charged,” it said.

    Other major breaches that violated China’s anti-monopoly law include product bundling and adding unreasonable conditions for the sale of baseband chips, it said.

    Qualcomm said in a company statement yesterday that it would honor the fine and modify its licensing practices.

    The company said it will offer licenses for its current 3G and 4G Chinese patents separately from licenses to its other patents.

    It also will give existing licensees in China an opportunity to adopt the new terms for sales of branded devices for use in China going back to Jan. 1.

    “We are pleased that the investigation has concluded and believe that our licensing business is now well positioned to fully participate in China’s rapidly accelerating adoption of our 3G/4G technology,” said Derek Aberle, president of Qualcomm, in a statement.

    Qualcomm makes most of its profit from licensing fees paid by companies that use its chips. China accounts for about half the company’s revenue.

    Qualcomm was also quoted as saying in the NDRC statement that it would continue to increase investment in China to seek better development.

    (SD-Xinhua)