Qualcomm faces fines by European antitrust regulators

The European Union is set to fine US chipmaker Qualcomm for taking advantage of its dominance when it paid Apple to use its chips exclusively in Apple mobile devices, The Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

Europe's antitrust watchdog is expected to this week that Qualcomm hurt competition and innovation when it paid Apple to buy all of its communication chipsets from Qualcomm between 2011 and 2016, the FT reported, citing people familiar with the matter. 

Apple and Qualcomm are engaged in a wide-ranging legal battle over patents that started with Apple suing Qualcomm for nearly US$1 billion in patent royalty rebates that the chipmaker allegedly withheld from the company.

The European Commission declined to comment. Qualcomm did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal. Editing by Sai Sachin Ravikumar