Chipmaker Qualcomm to face antitrust lawsuit in US

The Federal Trade Commission in the United States has decided to bring an antitrust lawsuit against Qualcomm Inc, a major producer of microchip technology for smartphones.

The Trade Commission voted 2-1 to bring the case and, even though an investigation into the company's licenses for creating technology was opened in 2014, shares in the firm fell more than 4% on announcement of the news.

With Donald Trump's administration arriving in Washington on Friday, the investigation into Qualcomm has been accelerated, with the one Republican commissioner who voted not to bring the lawsuit voicing dissent after the decision was made.

Maureen Ohlhausen said in a statement afterwards that the decision "lacks economic and evidentiary support, that was brought on the eve of a new presidential administration, and that, by its mere issuance, will undermine US intellectual property rights in Asia and worldwide."

The case from the federal organisation centres around patents from certain communications standards, which Qualcomm has previously agreed to limits on given the essential nature of them.

"Qualcomm has engaged in exclusionary conduct that taxes its competitors' baseband processor sales, reduces competitors' ability and incentive to innovate, and raises prices paid by consumers for cell phones and tablets," the ccourt filing said

It is the latest setback for the company, which was recently hit with a $854m fine from regulators in South Korea in a similar licensing case.