In the midst of the Chinese probe into Qualcomm’s business practices, European Union antitrust regulators are planning to launch aninvestigation against the mobile chipmaker based on a four-year-old complaint from Nvidia subsidiary Icera.
According to reports, if Qualcomm is found to violate EU policies, it may have to pay $2.5bn in fines to settle the issue.
Reuters cited a source familiar with the matter as saying: "The Commission may open a case after the summer."
In June 2010, Qualcomm had been accused of anti-competitive activities by the UK based chipmaker Icera.
The latest move comes after the US chipmaker trimmed its outlook for the fourth quarter over concerns in China.
In June, Qualcomm also revealed plans to invest $150m to invest in Chinese startups that are developing mobile technologies in areas of e-commerce, semiconductors, education and health.