‘Maverick’ company cannot be patient anymore? Global semiconductor dispute to follow
Park Jung Il | comja77@ | 2017-05-16 11:02:41
[Digital Times, Park Jong-il] Samsung Electronics and Intel have expressed their support for the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which filed an antitrust lawsuit against Qualcomm.
According to Bloomberg News and other international presses on May 15, Samsung Electronics and Intel have been involved in the antitrust lawsuit between the FTC and Qualcomm, claiming that Qualcomm has used its dominant market position to prevent its licensees from offering their patents and to purchase their mobile chips to the US Court of Appeals.
Samsung Electronics, in an affidavit submitted to the Federal District Court in the Northern District of California, stated, "Qualcomm refused to manufacture and sell the chipset, despite requesting a patent license to Qualcomm, so Samsung sold the Axion chipset to another company outside Samsung.” Intel also stated that Qualcomm is using patent and market monopoly status to prevent fair competition.
Samsung Electronics is not only a customer of Qualcomm but also commissioned some chips of Qualcomm. However, it is also a special relationship that the Samsung is producing chips that compete with Qualcomm products. Meanwhile, Intel is dominating the market for computer chips and is competing with Qualcomm as Intel seeks to increase its market share in the mobile phone chip market.
In connection with this, the FTC has filed an antitrust suit against Qualcomm in January for using its dominant market position to impose a certain level of patent royalties on smartphone component manufacturers or to prevent them from selling to other smartphone manufacturers. The Korea Fair Trade Commission has also charged the Qualcomm with fines of KRW 1.30 trillion last December for the same reasons, and the company is facing a backlash by being investigated by the competitors of the European Union and Taiwan.
In the US, after a lawsuit filed by the FTC, the company sued Apple for USD 1 billion in damages from Apple and there is also a disruption in the collection of royalties from iPhone assembly companies.
Besides, legal dispute caused as Western Digital (WD) filed an official request to stop selling Toshiba`s semiconductor business in Japan (Toshiba Memory). As a result, there is growing concern that Toshiba memory sales will be disrupted by this dispute.
According to international press such as NHK on May 15, four subsidiaries of WD, which are co-operating Toshiba Semiconductor`s flagship plant, filed for arbitration requesting the International Arbitration Tribunal under the International Chamber of Commerce to suspend the sale of Toshiba memory on May 14 (local time). Toshiba Memory shares were not asked to be handed over to third parties without WD`s consent.
As a result, it seems unavoidable that Toshiba`s second bidding work, which was scheduled to proceed during the month, will be interrupted. Also, Toshiba memory companies are delayed due to diligence of Toshiba assets, and it is expected that the second tender is hard to proceed during the month.
According to WD`s arbitration request, the ICA is expected to proceed with arbitration at the International Arbitration Tribunal in San Francisco. Both WD and Toshiba offer one of the three arbitrators, both of which are highly confronted. It is likely that arbitration proceeding with the company`s fate may take up to a year.
Foreign investors are also concerned that Toshiba`s sale of semiconductors will be halted in the case of continuous trial. WD has demanded the right of exclusive negotiations several times and warned of the possibility of legal action. However, Toshiba stated that it did not have to ask for consent for the sale, putting WD employees at work in the Yokkaichi plant. The both sides held a summit meeting between the two companies on April 10 to resolve the issue of monopoly bargaining rights in Tokyo, Japan, but failed to narrow the gap.
By Park Jung Il comja77@
[ copyright ⓒ The Digitaltimes ]
According to Bloomberg News and other international presses on May 15, Samsung Electronics and Intel have been involved in the antitrust lawsuit between the FTC and Qualcomm, claiming that Qualcomm has used its dominant market position to prevent its licensees from offering their patents and to purchase their mobile chips to the US Court of Appeals.
Samsung Electronics, in an affidavit submitted to the Federal District Court in the Northern District of California, stated, "Qualcomm refused to manufacture and sell the chipset, despite requesting a patent license to Qualcomm, so Samsung sold the Axion chipset to another company outside Samsung.” Intel also stated that Qualcomm is using patent and market monopoly status to prevent fair competition.
Samsung Electronics is not only a customer of Qualcomm but also commissioned some chips of Qualcomm. However, it is also a special relationship that the Samsung is producing chips that compete with Qualcomm products. Meanwhile, Intel is dominating the market for computer chips and is competing with Qualcomm as Intel seeks to increase its market share in the mobile phone chip market.
In connection with this, the FTC has filed an antitrust suit against Qualcomm in January for using its dominant market position to impose a certain level of patent royalties on smartphone component manufacturers or to prevent them from selling to other smartphone manufacturers. The Korea Fair Trade Commission has also charged the Qualcomm with fines of KRW 1.30 trillion last December for the same reasons, and the company is facing a backlash by being investigated by the competitors of the European Union and Taiwan.
In the US, after a lawsuit filed by the FTC, the company sued Apple for USD 1 billion in damages from Apple and there is also a disruption in the collection of royalties from iPhone assembly companies.
Besides, legal dispute caused as Western Digital (WD) filed an official request to stop selling Toshiba`s semiconductor business in Japan (Toshiba Memory). As a result, there is growing concern that Toshiba memory sales will be disrupted by this dispute.
According to international press such as NHK on May 15, four subsidiaries of WD, which are co-operating Toshiba Semiconductor`s flagship plant, filed for arbitration requesting the International Arbitration Tribunal under the International Chamber of Commerce to suspend the sale of Toshiba memory on May 14 (local time). Toshiba Memory shares were not asked to be handed over to third parties without WD`s consent.
As a result, it seems unavoidable that Toshiba`s second bidding work, which was scheduled to proceed during the month, will be interrupted. Also, Toshiba memory companies are delayed due to diligence of Toshiba assets, and it is expected that the second tender is hard to proceed during the month.
According to WD`s arbitration request, the ICA is expected to proceed with arbitration at the International Arbitration Tribunal in San Francisco. Both WD and Toshiba offer one of the three arbitrators, both of which are highly confronted. It is likely that arbitration proceeding with the company`s fate may take up to a year.
Foreign investors are also concerned that Toshiba`s sale of semiconductors will be halted in the case of continuous trial. WD has demanded the right of exclusive negotiations several times and warned of the possibility of legal action. However, Toshiba stated that it did not have to ask for consent for the sale, putting WD employees at work in the Yokkaichi plant. The both sides held a summit meeting between the two companies on April 10 to resolve the issue of monopoly bargaining rights in Tokyo, Japan, but failed to narrow the gap.
By Park Jung Il comja77@