Smartphone chip giant Qualcomm Technologies Inc.’s perseverance looks like it might finally pay off, as reports indicate its proposed $47 billion acquisition of rival firm NXP Semiconductors NV will be approved by European regulators next week.

The European Union’s antitrust regulators are all set to clear the acquisition after the two companies addressed concerns raised last June that Qualcomm might attempt to exploit the acquisition to harm its competition and unfairly raise prices, the Financial Times reported.

Qualcomm announced its intention to acquire NXP back in October 2016. The proposed deal has already been approved by U.S. regulators, but the EU raised concerns that the combined entity might exclude rival suppliers and increase royalties. In addition, the EU said it was worried that the companies might decide to bundle Qualcomm’s baseband wireless chips with NXP’s near-field communication technology and other “secure elements” used in wireless mobile payment systems.

The EU had good reason to be concerned. Qualcomm is engaged in a series of legal battles around the world over its alleged unfair business practices. The most high-profile case involves Apple Inc., which uses Qualcomm’s mobile networking chips in its iPhones and iPads. The mobile giant has sued Qualcomm in multiple jurisdictions for allegedly taking advantage of its dominant position to charge excessive fees.

The Financial Times reported that Qualcomm has made several commitments in order to win EU approval for the NXP deal, including assurances over licenses, intellectual property and system elements.

If Qualcomm does get the go-ahead, it may also help the company avoid a hostile takeover attempt by rival firm Broadcom Ltd., which last year made an unsolicited $105 billion bid for the company. That bid was promptly rejected by Qualcomm, but Broadcom responded by appealing to the firm’s shareholders to unseat the company’s board of directors.

Effectively, Broadcom is seeking to bypass the current company leadership and go directly to investors with its takeover bid by asking them to appoint directors who would support the offer. Qualcomm’s annual shareholder meeting takes place on March 6, when Broadcom will have the opportunity to put the matter up for a vote.

However, Broadcom’s takeover efforts could be seriously complicated if the NXP deal goes through. The involvement of the Dutch firm would mean much greater regulatory scrutiny because both NXP and Broadcom are big players in the Wi-Fi chip business, the Financial Times reported. That said it’s also true that Broadcom has known the NXP deal would likely eventually be approved and has planned accordingly, said one analyst.

“It certainly makes it harder as the Qualcomm value and prices goes up,” said Holger Mueller, principal analyst and vice president at Constellation Research Inc. “But Broadcom knew this from the get go and said already it will try to buy Qualcomm no matter what. So we have to assume they considered this scenario. Time to get the popcorn and see what’s happening in the semiconductor and phone supplier space.”

Image: Karlis Dambrans/Flickr