The Fair Trade Commission has initiated a consent agreement procedure regarding allegations that the U.S. semiconductor corporation Broadcom required domestic set-top box manufacturers to use only its chips (SoC). Broadcom proposed a corrective plan that includes stopping past practices and establishing a fund of 13 billion won to support the domestic semiconductor industry.
On the 7th, the Fair Trade Commission announced that it has prepared a provisional consent agreement related to Broadcom's alleged violation of the Fair Trade Act and will gather opinions from relevant ministries and stakeholders by May 7.
The Fair Trade Commission viewed Broadcom's actions of requiring domestic set-top box manufacturers to deploy only its system semiconductor (SoC) as a violation of the Fair Trade Act, and Broadcom applied for the initiation of the consent agreement procedure in October of last year. The consent agreement system allows corporations to conclude the case without determining the legality if they voluntarily propose corrective measures.
In this provisional corrective plan, Broadcom promised that it would not require the deployment of only its SoC. Furthermore, it specified that it would not unilaterally change existing contracts to disadvantage clients who wish to use competitor products, nor would it discriminate in terms of price discounts or technical support solely because a majority of transactions were not contracted with them.
Broadcom plans to introduce a compliance program (CP) to ensure the effectiveness of the measures, and will report to the Fair Trade Commission annually on compliance until 2031. It will also conduct training on the Fair Trade Act for employees at least once a year.
According to the Fair Trade Commission, Broadcom also proposed cooperative measures to support the domestic semiconductor ecosystem along with the corrective plan. These include ▲operating training programs to cultivate semiconductor experts ▲support for design automation software (EDA) ▲promotional support for small and medium-sized enterprises, among others. Broadcom plans to invest a total of 13 billion won to implement these cooperative measures.
A Fair Trade Commission official explained, "After the opinion gathering procedure is completed, a comprehensive review will be conducted on the proposed corrective measures and submitted opinions, and the final consent agreement will be confirmed at a plenary meeting."