Samsung Electronics on Tuesday issued a statement rejecting a report that the Fair Trade Commission has launched an investigation after receiving a complaint alleging it bullied a subcontractor while running a fifth-generation mobile communications, or 5G, business in the United States.

The report said the FTC began a probe late last year after receiving a complaint that Samsung Electronics unfairly stopped outsourcing work to subcontractor A in the United States. A is a U.S. unit set up by a small South Korean cable supplier.

The key issue is an allegation that Samsung Electronics forced A to relocate its factory. The report said Samsung approved A in 2019 as a primary cable supplier for telecommunications equipment used in its U.S. 5G business and signed a subcontract. It then effectively demanded shorter delivery times as demand for the 5G business increased. A moved its plant from Irvine, California, to Dallas, Texas, in early 2021.

Samsung Electronics said it never forced A to relocate its factory while doing business with the company cited in the article. It said it buys cables from various companies and had no need to force A to move its plant. It also said it never asked A to invest in facilities. Samsung Electronics said it conducted an assessment based on quality standards before signing the contract, and that A decided on its own to make investments to improve its plant.

The article claimed that Samsung Electronics told A in June 2021 that Verizon changed the types of cables used in 5G equipment and gradually reduced order volumes, leading A’s orders to fall by nearly 90 percent, from about $5.2 million in the second half of 2020, just before the factory move, to about $560,000 in the second half of 2022. It also said orders stopped in April 2023 and A’s U.S. unit, after suffering management difficulties, went bankrupt in December of that year.

Samsung Electronics also rebutted that, saying A’s order volumes declined only because there were no orders from customers, and that it was not an unfair cancellation of outsourcing. It said it has completed all payments for the full order volumes.

Samsung Electronics said it has done its best to comply with laws and to pursue mutual growth with partner companies, and that there were no violations of law. It said A’s claims were one-sided logic based on its own position and far from the facts.