BEIJING, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- Microchip maker Qualcomm Inc. said the Chinese government was investigating its business for alleged anti-monopoly law violations.
The company that had, as of the second quarter of 2013, a 53 percent share of the world's market for microchips for smartphones, has already lost cases in Japan and South Korea based on similar concerns, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
The company is appealing those rulings, which revolve around Qualcomm charging the makers of mobile devices patent royalties for its chips, the Journal said.
In the market for high-speed LTE chips that companies in China are gravitating toward, Qualcomm had a 98 percent of the market share as of 2012.
The company said the National Development and Reform Commission in China was conducting the investigation.
Chief Executive Officer Paul Jacobs said last week that revelations about the National Security Agency's spying activities and the U.S. ban on Huawei Technologies doing business in the United States -- a ban based on concern that Huawei equipment could be used for spying -- had put U.S. companies under "increased pressure" in China.
"We are definitely seeing increased pressure. All U.S. tech companies are seeing pressure," Jacobs said.
