Qualcomm to Cancel NXP Deal, Blaming US-China Trade War

UPDATE vii/25/18: The U.s.a.'s ongoing trade state of war with People's republic of china has forced Qualcomm to call off its plan to purchase NXP Semiconductors.

"Awaiting any new material development, nosotros intend to stop our agreement to larn NXP at the finish of the 24-hour interval," Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf said during an earnings call on Wednesday.

Qualcomm's CEO said the "current geopolitical environment" had effectively blocked the proposed merger. The bargain has so far failed to secure approval from a key Chinese regulator, forcing the proposed merger to stall.

"Continued uncertainty overhanging such a large acquisition introduces heightened risk," he said. "Nosotros weighed that hazard against the likelihood in a change in the electric current geopolitical environment, which we didn't believe to be a loftier probability result in the near futurity."

All the same, the issue is a blow for Qualcomm, which wanted to use NXP'due south technologies to advance its expansion into cars and mobile payments. To sustain growth, the United states company volition accept to focus on squeezing more revenue from the coming 5G deployment and from smartphone demand in foreign markets.

Qualcomm has agreed to pay $two billion to NXP equally a termination fee.

Original story:
Qualcomm on Thursday appear plans to learn NXP Semiconductors for $47 billion.

NXP is a leading semiconductor solutions supplier for the automotive manufacture, and is helping to make cocky-driving cars a reality. The company has some 25,000 customers, and its products are in 14 of the superlative xv automotive infotainment systems, according to the announcement. Qualcomm primarily makes chips for mobile devices like smartphones.

"The NXP acquisition accelerates our strategy to extend our leading mobile applied science into robust new opportunities, where we will be well positioned to lead by delivering integrated semiconductor solutions at scale," Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf said in a argument. "By joining Qualcomm's leading SoC capabilities and engineering roadmap with NXP's leading industry sales channels and positions in automotive, security and IoT, we volition be even better positioned to empower customers and consumers to realize all the benefits of the intelligently connected world."

Qualcomm expects the companies together will generate almanac revenues of more than than $30 billion.

In a statement, NXP CEO Rick Clemmer said the combined visitor will bring together "avant-garde computing and ubiquitous connectivity with security and high performance mixed-bespeak solutions including microcontrollers.

"Jointly nosotros volition be able to provide more consummate solutions which will allow u.s.a. to further heighten our leadership positions, and expand the already stiff partnerships with our broad customer base, particularly in automotive, consumer and industrial IoT and device level security," he added.

NXP, meanwhile, in May said "four of the peak 5 largest carmakers in the world" are using its BlueBox engine for their autonomous vehicle efforts. BlueBox combines NXP's S32V automotive vision processor and its LS2088A embedded compute processor for a platform designed to help carmakers build autonomous vehicles. NXP wants its applied science in autonomous cars past 2020, when the commencement self-driving cars are expected to striking the road.

About Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo is PCMag's expert on fitness and smart domicile products. Instruction yoga for nearly ten years has helped her in evaluating a range of connected health products including fitness trackers, heart rate monitors, rowers, smart scales, stationary bikes, strength training machines, treadmills, and more. Angela also tests smart home devices from her ranch in Florida, including air purifiers, kitchen appliances, and robot vacuums, only to proper noun a few.