EU probes Qualcomm over possible antitrust issues

The El Reg nickname for Qualcomm is?

I guess Chipzilla is already taken.

Suggestions?

Someone please SHOW me....

the specific price differences for a specific chip to perform the same duties and the customer contracts first. THEN I could be convinced there "may" be an issue. Otherwise, this sounds like predatory jurisprudence to me. Getting the government to fight your personal sourcing battles is like calling Mommy to wipe your behind when you are out of high school and about as mature.

Just because very few companies even want to produce chips does not automagically make their product price/availability "predatory" or worth "antitrust" investigation. Everytime the manufacturer makes a change in their photolithography and printing process, it warrants a price increase. TOO BAD.

Go ahead and price building your own chip fab. I dare you!

Most manufacturers of equipment contract with someone to design and manufacture their chips and package them. When they run into obsolescence of a particular chip and there are very few to be had (happens in industrial controls and instrumentation all the time) the price for the old chip ALWAYS rises on the demand.

If you don't like that, then be proactive about that special chip that only you buy and get several different sources for it.

The fact you've had the same custom chip for 15 years and you're complaining that it's no longer being made is not the manufacturers problem, it's YOURS. It's NOT price fixing because they sent you a warning LONG ago that there was not enough volume to continue making it at that price. It's called a price increase; dumbass!

For chips that are going out of production, bite the bullet and budget some software/hardware R&D money annually and stop being assclowns for investors.

You may find an OTS fully programmable chip that just needs some software to provide the same functions as before. I really don't care if that means you have to pay a little more.

It's up to the USER to find competitive sources, not the government or the lawyers.