Qualcomm fires back at Intel, accuses tech giants of 'misleading' trade regulators

Earlier this week, Intel and other tech giants sided with Apple in its legal battle against Qualcomm. Intel accused Qualcomm of “anti-competitive” policies and claimed that it’s the only remaining competitor left for Qualcomm in the mobile modem market.

Earlier this year, Apple sued Qualcomm and both the companies have been going back-and-forth since then. Qualcomm accused Apple of infringing its patent and urged the International Trade Commission to completely ban sales of iPhone devices that use Intel’s modem which supposedly infringes the company’s rights. Major tech giants part of a lobbying group complained to the International Trade Commission that ‘entertaining’ Qualcomm’s requests against Apple would lead to “significant shocks to supply” of the iPhone and affect consumers. The group represents world’s biggest tech giants, including the likes of Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and Amazon.

Qualcomm fired back at Intel and others part of the lobbying group yesterday, claiming that the company’s concerns don’t have anything to do with Intel’s products. Instead, the company’s claims are against chips that infringe its patents. “Apple can purchase and utilize any LTE modem it chooses so long as it does not infringe Qualcomm’s asserted patents,” said Qualcomm in a filing. The company later accused the group of misleading trade regulators, stating that it’s “coordinated effort aimed at misdirecting.”