Glass maker Corning under EU investigation over possible antitrust violations

What just happened? Corning Gorilla Glass is as common a sight in high-end smartphones as Qualcomm's latest SoCs. The European Commission is aware of this, and has now opened an investigation into whether Corning broke antitrust laws by abusing its dominant market position.

Corning's alkali-aluminosilicate glass is used in a huge range of smartphones, tablets, notebooks, and wearables from the top tech firms.

EU antitrust regulators are concerned that Corning's exclusivity deals with mobile phone makers and raw glass processing companies may be pushing rival glass makers out of large segments of the market.

Outgoing EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said that breaking a phone screen was a frustrating and costly experience. Therefore, strong competition in the production of the glass that covers mobile devices was crucial to ensure low prices and a high-quality product.