European antitrust investigations can take several years to complete. If companies are found to have broken the region’s competition rules, they can appeal the decisions in Europe’s courts.

In response to Thursday’s announcement, Qualcomm said that it was disappointed that European authorities had opened the investigations but that the company would continue to work with the region’s antitrust officials.

“We continue to believe that any concerns are without merit,” Qualcomm said in a statement.

The move by European officials comes after an agreement by Qualcomm this year to pay a $975 million fine for violating China’s antimonopoly law. As part of that deal, the company agreed to offer licenses for some of its communications systems for high-speed data to smartphones at a significant discount to what it charges companies elsewhere.

The American chip maker has also been the focus of previous antitrust investigations by European officials. The region’s authorities dropped a two-year inquiry in 2009 after failing to find evidence that Qualcomm had charged excessive royalties for access to its patents.