Accepting the requests submitted by 15 Member States, the European Commission will assess Qualcomm’s acquisition of Autotalks under EU Merger Regulations (EUMR).
The US-based Qualcomm is a semiconductor manufacturer. Its chipsets (vehicles-to-everything V2X) are used in the automotive sector to communicate data. Autotalks is an Israeli semiconductor manufacturer specialising in V2X.
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The Commission will assess whether the acquisition will affect trade within the single market and threaten competition.
Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden submitted the requests to the Commission, under Article 22(1) of the EUMR. Czechia, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania and Slovakia have since joined the initial referral requests.
Qualcomm announced the acquisition in May.
In March, Qualcomm criticised European Union antitrust regulators during a court hearing to overturn a proposed €242m fine.
The European Commission fined Qualcomm €997m in 2019 but the fine was overturned in 2022. The Commission alleged that Qualcomm had sold chipsets below cost between 2009 and 2011 to counter British software manufacturer Icera.
Last month, Meta and Qualcomm announced that Meta’s Llama 2-based AI will be available on Snapdragon chipsets meant for flagship smartphones and PCs starting in 2024.
Qualcomm will make available Llama 2-based AI implementation on devices powered by Snapdragon from 2024.
