China Reportedly Launches Antitrust Probe Into Qualcomm's Autotalks Acquisition

(RTTNews) - Qualcomm Inc.'s (QCOM) acquisition of Israeli connected-vehicle chipmaker Autotalks has sparked an antitrust investigation by China's State Administration for Market Regulation on Friday, which claims the U.S. chipmaker withheld some information from the deal.

In 2023, Qualcomm consented to buy Autotalks in order to broaden its Snapdragon portfolio in the automotive and road safety-focused vehicle-to-everything communication technologies. The action was taken during ongoing trade talks between the United States and China and months after the deal was finalized.

Due to the transaction's prior scrutiny by U.S. and U.K. regulators, Qualcomm temporarily shelved the acquisition in early 2024 before eventually completing it.

The investigation comes after recent Chinese regulatory actions against other U.S. chip deals, such as the acquisition of Mellanox by NVIDIA.

QCOM is currently trading at $160.26, down $5.40 or 3.26 percent on the Nasdaq.