Qualcomm Inc. late Thursday announced that it has settled an antitrust case with Taiwan’s competition regulator in a development that could hold broad legal implications for the chipmaker.

Under the agreement, the settlement will replace a $773 million fine that was levied against the company last year. The Taiwan Fair Trade Commission imposed the penalty after finding that Qualcomm had abused its leadership position in the mobile modem business by refusing to sell technology to certain handset makers.

Instead of the full $773 million, the agreement will see the TFTC keep the $93 million that the chipmaker had paid toward the fine in the run-up to the settlement. Qualcomm will additionally invest $700 million in Taiwan over the next five years.

A part of the sum is set to go toward the establishment of a new “operations and manufacturing engineering” center. In conjunction, Qualcomm will work with Taiwanese universities and startups on various technology initiatives. One planned focus area for these collaborations is 5G, the set of high-speed networking technologies slated to replace today’s LTE hardware.

The settlement’s financial component is paired with a number of legal caveats. Qualcomm said that it has agreed to “certain process-related commitments confirming principles of mutual good-faith and fairness” when negotiating with handset makers about licensing deals. That will include submitting biannual reports to the TFTC for the next five years to show it’s meeting the obligation.

In exchange for these concessions, Taiwanese regulators have allowed Qualcomm to continue using its current pricing model in the country. The chipmaker charges royalties based on the value of the phones that include its technology rather than the components themselves.

This pricing model stands at the heart of the company’s global legal dispute with Apple Inc. over patent licensing feeds. The iPhone maker sued Qualcomm last year for allegedly charging excessive royalties, a move that has since been followed by other legal action, including a lawsuit from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

Reuters reported that since the chipmaker’s settlement with the TFTC replaces the body’s original ruling about its competitive practices, it’s “less likely” Apple and others will be able to use the ruling as part of other cases. Qualcomm Chief Executive Officer Steve Mollenkopf predicted in April that the dispute with the iPhone maker will be resolved by the end of the year.

Photo: techcocktail/Flickr