Stop the Qualcomm Outrage, Check the Facts and Figures Instead

While America's technology companies are breathing easier after the head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) confirmed on Monday that the Qualcomm Technologies Inc. ruling is not a sign of more historic fines to come, it is fair to assume that a large degree of head-shaking continues; after all, no other company in China has ever been fined $1 billion.

However, is anyone asking whether a company has ever earned 50 percent of its total global revenue for a single fiscal year in the uber-lucrative Chinese marketplace?

To assign a specific figure to the aforementioned piece of information, half of Qualcomm's worldwide revenue in the last fiscal year equalled $26.5 billion.

It is not surprising to anyone with even a loose handle on global economics that nascent businesses all over the planet hungrily think about China on a regular basis. And the Asian giant's potential was also on the mind of the Qualcomm executives when they enacted business practices that led to the 14-month NDRC investigation, which has finally come to an end with a pricey thud.

As China Daily established on Wednesday: The NDRC fine is "a justifiable penalty for undermining fair competition." Plus, it is not an exclusive fine given to a victimized target, as the publication also points out that Chinese officials have levied 3 billion yuan in fines on both domestic and overseas-funded businesses since the start of 2013.

And, even though the Internet now provides unprecedented access to all kinds of information, we will still do you the favor of sharing some details of Qualcomm's back story. The company has been the subject of anti-trust investigations in the European Union, Japan and the Republic of Korea, and eventually received a $208-million fine in 2009 from the Korean government for unreasonably expensive prices.

It would be unfair to use the term "monster" for any party here, but it certainly does not apply to China.