The European Commission opened a formal antitrust investigation to assess whether Broadcom may be restricting competition through exclusivity practices with its set-top box and modem chipsets.
EU law prohibits the abuse of a dominant market position to affect trade within the EU and prevent or restrict competition.
Margrethe Vestager, Commissioner in charge of competition policy, said “We suspect that Broadcom, a major supplier of components for these devices, has put in place contractual restrictions to exclude its competitors from the market. This would prevent Broadcom’s customers and, ultimately, final consumers from reaping the benefits of choice and innovation. We also intend to order Broadcom to halt its behaviour while our investigation proceeds, to avoid any risk of serious and irreparable harm to competition.”