UPDATED 23:22 EDT / SEPTEMBER 29 2016

NEWS

Report: Qualcomm wants to buy NXP Semiconductors for $30B

Smartphone semiconductor powerhouse Qualcomm Technologies Inc. could acquire rival firm NXP Semiconductors N.V. in “the next two to three months,” according to a report from the Wall Street Journal that cites people familiar with the matter.

The value of the deal is speculated at $30 billion, which puts it in the same bracket as SoftBank Group Corp.’s $32 billion takeover of British chip designer Arm Holdings Plc., which was announced two months ago.

NXP’s shares jumped 17 percent, bringing its market capitalization to $33 billion. Qualcomm’s shares also rose, by more than 6 percent, boosting its market value to almost $100 billion.

The chip industry has been in consolidation mode for several years, with a flurry of big-ticket deals. Last year, among other acquisitions, NXP itself bought Freescale Semiconductor Inc. for $11.8 billion, Intel Corp. acquired Altera Corp. for $16.7 billion and Avago Technologies Ltd. swallowed Broadcom Corp. for $37 billion.

NXP is probably best known for co-inventing the concept of near-field communication (NFC), the technology that underpins wireless payment services like Android Pay and Apple Pay. The company also has a huge presence in the smartphone market as its NXP controllers are almost ubiquitous in high-end phones such as the iPhone 6, 6S and 7, as well as Android handsets including the Galaxy S7 and Nexus 6P. NXP also has a foothold in the Internet of Things (IoT), while its acquisition of Freescale Semiconductor Inc. late last year for $12 billion saw it become the largest maker of automotive electronics on the planet.

Qualcomm has its own interest in the automotive sector, where it has been pushing its System on a Chip (SOC) semiconductors and modems for connected cars. Earlier this year, for example, it unveiled a new chip based on the Snapdragon 820 SoC that’s designed specifically for connected cars.

NXP’s interest in the automotive sector is more widespread, as the company offers a range of products, including chips such as temperature sensors, power management controllers and more. The company also builds ARM-based SoCs that could be seen as a rival to Qualcomm’s offerings, but the latter firm tends to focus on high-end and mid-end products, whereas NXP’s chips tend to be low-powered solutions for integrated devices.

The Wall Street Journal said that if the deal does go through, Qualcomm would become the biggest supplier of semiconductor chips for cars, which is one of the most promising of markets for chip makers as the trend towards smarter cars accelerates. The move would also be a welcome financial boost for Qualcomm, which has struggled in the last couple of years with the contracting smartphone market as well as the recent loss of its iPhone modem business to IBM.

NXP boasts solid finances of its own, with a reported 50 percent year-over-year revenue growth in the last two quarters.

Photo Credit: Janitors Flickr via Compfight cc

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