Qualcomm accuses Apple of stealing trade secrets to improve Intel chips

Source: Content compiled from Sina Technology and Tencent Technology, thank you.

According to documents filed by Qualcomm with the California Supreme Court on Monday, Qualcomm accused Apple of stealing a large amount of confidential information and trade secrets to improve the chip performance of Qualcomm's competitor Intel. Last November, Qualcomm sued Apple for violating the software licensing agreement, which allowed competitor Intel to benefit from manufacturing broadband modems. Today, Qualcomm made the above allegations in a complaint, hoping that the court would amend its November lawsuit.

Because Apple believes that Qualcomm charges too high chip patent royalties and is unwilling to pay copyright fees to Qualcomm, the two companies have been involved in direct or indirect litigation wars around the world.

Last January, Apple sued Qualcomm, accusing it of charging excessive chip patent royalties and refusing to return the $1 billion in patent royalties it promised to return. In April, Qualcomm announced that it had received a notice from Apple to suspend paying it iPhone patent fees for the first quarter of 2017.

In May, Qualcomm sued Apple's four major contract manufacturers, Foxconn, Pegatron, Wistron and Compal, claiming that the four contract manufacturers refused to pay patent licensing fees at the instigation of Apple.

In June, Apple again accused Qualcomm of invalidating its smartphone chip licensing agreement. In July, Qualcomm sued Apple, claiming that Apple infringed on several of its patents, mainly related to improving the battery life of mobile devices. In November, Qualcomm sued Apple for violating its software licensing agreement, allowing rival Intel to benefit from manufacturing broadband modems.

According to the US CNBC website, Qualcomm's accusation today can be seen as the latest offensive in the dispute between the two parties, aimed at putting pressure on Apple to reach a settlement. However, Qualcomm's general counsel Donald Rosenberg told CNBC that this case is independent and will be filed regardless of the outcome of the royalty dispute between the two companies.

"We will not allow the illegal use of our valuable trade secrets to help competitors catch up with us and cause us irreparable harm to continue," Rosenberg said.

Qualcomm's latest allegation, which is part of a lawsuit filed last November, comes after Qualcomm discovered that Apple engineers repeatedly provided source code and other confidential information to Intel engineers to improve the performance of Intel chipsets.

Qualcomm did not provide direct evidence to support the latest allegations, but referred to the exchanges between Apple engineers and Intel engineers. Qualcomm hopes the court will add its latest allegations to the lawsuit filed last November.

Qualcomm and Apple have been involved in large-scale lawsuits in multiple countries, and Intel, as a supplier competing with Qualcomm, has also been involved. According to foreign media reports in August this year, Qualcomm asked the court to require Intel to provide details on how its baseband processors are used in Apple products.

In the lawsuit between Apple and Qualcomm, Apple believes that Qualcomm has used its monopoly position in baseband chips to collect unreasonable and unfair patent fees. Apple has notified its foundry to stop paying Qualcomm's patent fees. Qualcomm counter-sued Apple for infringing on multiple patents. Currently, the two giants are still confronting each other and neither is willing to give in.

According to the US technology news website CNET, as part of Apple's Qualcomm patent infringement lawsuit, Qualcomm recently filed a judicial motion with a court in San Jose, California, asking the court to order Intel to provide Qualcomm with detailed information and code to introduce how its baseband processor is used in Apple's electronic products.

The so-called baseband chip or baseband processor is a dedicated chip used by smartphones to communicate with mobile base stations. Qualcomm is the world's largest baseband processor manufacturer, and Apple's current baseband chip suppliers include Qualcomm and Intel.

Qualcomm said that the information provided by Intel is directly related to the patent infringement lawsuit between Qualcomm and Apple, and Intel has promised to provide the information in the past.

Qualcomm reportedly asked Intel to provide details of Intel baseband chips used in Apple devices from 2016 to 2018. Intel had previously provided information for 2016 and 2017, but did not provide information for 2018.

Qualcomm also accused Intel of not providing the corresponding iPhone communication component information in accordance with the court subpoena. Intel believed that Qualcomm's request created too much of a burden, and some other responsible personnel currently lived abroad. Qualcomm said that Intel could fully use video conferencing.

Qualcomm has been the exclusive supplier of baseband processors for Apple phones for many years. As the conflicts between Apple and Qualcomm gradually accumulated, Apple introduced Intel as another supplier and gradually "cultivated" Intel to improve its products.

Prior to this, many users had discovered that the Internet speed of Apple phones using Intel baseband processors was not as good as that of iPhones using Qualcomm baseband. According to reports, Apple even adjusted the mobile phone communication indicators to reduce the overall Internet speed in order to "protect" Intel, whose technology was relatively backward.

Not long ago, Qualcomm executives confirmed a media rumor that Qualcomm will not receive any baseband processor orders for Apple's new mobile phones in 2018, and all basebands will come from Intel.

It is reported that in accordance with the practice of multiple suppliers, Apple is also contacting Taiwan's MediaTek as another baseband chip supplier.

A recent survey conducted by an authoritative organization found that the Internet speed of Apple mobile phones is significantly lower than that of its competitor Samsung Electronics. Data shows that the speed is about three-quarters of Samsung's.

Qualcomm commented on the news and pointed out that Apple's phones that do not use Qualcomm baseband chips have slower Internet speeds than its competitors. In addition, even if Apple phones use the same Qualcomm baseband processor, their Internet speeds are slower than those of its competitors.

According to a large number of media reports, Apple has expanded its chip design business in recent years and has established an internal team to design baseband processors. When the technology matures, Apple may abandon its suppliers and adopt its own MODEM chips.

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