Qualcomm—China opened antitrust probe for completing Autotalks acquisition without approval
In October 2025, China's SAMR opened antitrust investigation into Qualcomm's June 2025 acquisition of Israeli automotive chipmaker Autotalks. Qualcomm completed the deal without filing merger notification despite SAMR's March 2024 written notice requiring filing. Qualcomm had initially claimed it was dropping the deal after regulatory notice, then proceeded anyway. With $17.8B China revenue (46% of total), Qualcomm faces potential penalty up to $1.8 billion. Shares fell 4% on probe announcement.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antitrust & Competition | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Corporate Governance | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.214 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.57)× agency (compelled ×0.25)
Evidence (1 signal)
Lexology reported China SAMR antitrust probe for Autotalks merger violation
Lexology reported that on October 10, 2025, China's SAMR opened antitrust investigation after Qualcomm completed Autotalks acquisition in June 2025 without merger notification, despite written notice in March 2024 requiring filing. Qualcomm faces potential $1.8B penalty with China representing 46% of revenue.