Us chip giant Broadcom has been fined 19.1 billion won by South Korean antitrust authorities for forcing Samsung to sign an unfair agreement.

CTOnews.com, September 21 (Xinhua) South Korea's antitrust authorities imposed a fine of 19.1 billion won (CTOnews.com Note: about 105 million yuan) on American chip giant Broadcom. After four years of investigation, South Korean antitrust authorities found that Broadcom used its dominant position in the market to take unfair business practices against Samsung Electronics (Samsung Electronics), the Korea Times reported.

It is reported that Broadcom used illegal means to force Samsung Electronics to sign a long-term agreement for the purchase of smartphone parts. In 2020, Broadcom cut off product supply and technical support to Samsung Electronics, and Samsung Electronics had to sign this long-term agreement against itself.

Under the agreement, Broadcom requires Samsung Electronics to purchase $760 million worth of smartphone parts (currently about 5.548 billion yuan) annually from 2021 to 2023. If the purchase amount is less than $760 million, Samsung Electronics will have to pay the difference to Broadcom. The agreement aims to prevent Samsung Electronics from buying parts from cheaper suppliers such as Qorvo and Qualcomm. However, the agreement ended in August 2021. The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) rejected Broadcom's proposal to voluntarily correct its unfair business practices and supported Samsung Electronics.

"Broadcom has an overwhelming market share in the market for advanced high-performance mobile device components used in smartphones and tablets," the Korea Fair Trade Commission said. [the company] used unfair means, including suspending order approval, shipments and technical support, to force Samsung Electronics to sign long-term agreements. "