EU: Antitrust regulators clear Qualcomm purchase of NXP

EU antitrust regulators have approved US smartphone chipmaker Qualcomm’s planned US$38 billion acquisition of NXP Semiconductors subject to a series of commitments Qualcomm has made.

Qualcomm said the European Union clearance, along with approval earlier on Thursday, January 18, from the Korea Fair Trade Commission, meant it now had eight of nine approvals, with just China remaining. It said it was optimistic that approval would come soon.

Qualcomm, which supplies chips to Android smartphone makers and Apple, is set to become the leading supplier to the fast-growing automotive chip market following the deal, the largest-ever in the semiconductor industry

The European Commission said in a statement on Thursday it had identified a number of competition concerns that had led to an in-depth investigation, but was now satisfied with the deal.

“We use our smartphones for many different things and now also more and more as mobile wallets, to pay for public transport or make other secure payments,” said European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.

Full Content: The Wall Street Journal

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