U.S. mobile chipmaker Qualcomm may face a European antitrust investigation in relation to a complaint by a subsidiary of Nvidia, Reuters reports. The probe would come at an awkward time for Qualcomm, which is seeking to end an investigation by China's pricing regulator into monopoly practices.

Icera, which was acquired by Nvidia in 2011, reached the European Commission in June 2010 accusing Qualcomm of anti-competitive behaviour.

Reuter's sources claim that Icera had accused Qualcomm of using patent-related incentives and exclusionary pricing of chipsets to discourage customers from doing business with Icera.