Qualcomm Faces EU Antitrust Probe AgainQualcomm Faces EU Antitrust Probe Again

UK semiconductor startup Icera has lodged a complaint with the European Commission, charging Qualcomm with anticompetitive behavior, according to reports from European media sources Thursday.

The two firms make chips for mobile wireless products. Qualcomm has dominated the wireless mobile phone semiconductor space for years while Icera, founded in 2002, has experienced rapid growth in the past year.

Qualcomm has been embroiled in a series of patent disputes over the years and recently settled long running litigation with Nokia and Broadcom. The Icera complaint could open up a new investigation. Qualcomm said the Icera charges are “meritless.” Earlier complaints in the EU against Qualcomm were withdrawn a few months ago.

Icera recently said it has quadrupled its revenues, although it didn’t cite actual numbers. The company delayed an IPO several months ago and recently said it had raised $45 million in venture capital in addition to earlier financing from venture capital sources.

Qualcomm has a large and robust patent portfolio that it has assembled over several years. Although its patent portfolio is one of the largest, if not the largest, in the mobile phone wireless industry, it hasn’t been bullet-proof. Qualcomm lost patent litigation with Broadcom two years ago.

Icera has been growing rapidly and its recently-unveiled IceClear soft modem has been well-received in the marketplace. The modem utilizes signal processing algorithms to cancel interference from competing signals to deliver sharp gains in throughput. The fables semiconductor company specializes in low-power soft modem chipsets for use in USB dongles, laptops, netbooks and smartphones.