Qualcomm Inc.’s share price up, a settlement over the anti-trust probe could make global monitoring over its patent licensing operations more serious

After the Chinese government officially announced on Friday that it was approaching a settlement of its antitrust investigation of the U.S.-based mobile chip manufacturer Qualcomm Inc., now the settlement is likely to make the global close monitoring over the company and its highly beneficial patent licensing operations even more serious.

The U.S.-based Qualcomm refused to make any comments on the situation.

The agreement between Qualcomm and Chinese antitrust regulatory authorities may probably also raise doubt over the company’s global contracts with large smartphone manufacturers such as Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Corp.

The National Development and Reform Commission of China suspected Qualcomm in a monopolistic behaviour and abusing its market position as a leader of the wireless chips market by imposing too large charges to its Chinese customers. The regulator is to put an end to the U.S.-based chip producer’s investigation, which lasted for 13 months.

According to the statement of the Chinese regulator, the chipmaker is to continue to work in cooperation with the regulatory authorities in the country in order to settle the situation. In addition, Qualcomm was reported to have expressed its desire to “improve” and “correct pricing issues”, according to a report cited by ValueWalk.

The settlement between Qualcomm and the Chinese regulator will likely include an enormous fine. The U.S.-based chip manufacturer will probably be charged by the National Development and Reform Commission over its licenses given to handset manufacturers in China.

Qualcomm is neither the first, nor the last foreign company, which has recently been put under scrutiny and criticism by the Chinese regulatory authorities. The measure comes as a result of the one-time anti-monopoly law in the country.

Qualcomm Inc. was up 1.29% to close at $75.62 per share on Friday, marking a one-year gain of 2.91%. The company is valued at $125.73 billion. According to CNN Money, the 33 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for Qualcomm have a median target of $82.00, with a high estimate of $100.00 and a low estimate of $50.00. The median estimate represents a +8.44% increase from the last price of $75.62.