Qualcomm faces competition probe

Qualcomm is to be investigated over antitrust allegations in South Korea, according to local press.

According to newspaper Chosun Ilbo, the South Korean Fair Trade Commission has put together a taskforce to investigate whether the US chipmaker and IP company has been behaving anti-competitively.

The paper reports that the team includes "US lawyers and legal experts" and will be the second major investigation following its probe of Microsoft in 2005.

The offices of Qualcomm Korea were raided in April of last year, when the FTC investigated business dealings between the company and three others — LG Electronics, Pantech Curitel and Samsung.

The company has also been accused of antitrust violations by rivals including Broadcom in the US and Nokia in Europe.

Qualcomm representatives could not immediately be reached for comment.