WSJ: Qualcomm to get European approval to purchase NXP for $39 billion

Qualcomm, the company that designs the Snapdragon mobile chipsets used on the majority of smartphones, is expected to be given approval today from European Anti-trust regulators to proceed with its $39 billion purchase of semiconductor manufacturer NXP. In order to obtain this approval, Qualcomm had to agree to certain conditions. For example, the San Diego based company cannot buy NXP's standard essential patents, and Qualcomm had to promise that rival products will still work with NXP's.

The deal was originally proposed by Qualcomm back in October 2016, and this past November Qualcomm became an acquisition target itself as fellow chip designer Broadcom made an unsolicited bid for the company. The U.S. agencies have already given Qualcomm the green light to buy NXP. After the expected EU approval, the deal will still require Chinese agencies to sign off on it.

The European anti-trust regulators were concerned that after the NXP acquisition, Qualcomm would have a high market share in the region for cellular chipsets, and chips used for NFC connectivity. The EU previously accused Qualcomm back in 2015 for paying Apple to use its chips exclusively. It also accused Qualcomm of selling certain chips below cost to eliminate a competitor from the market.

The approval from the EU is expected to be announced next week.

source: WSJ