Broadcom for $100 bn Qualcomm deal to build chip colossus

Deal would make Broadcom the leader in chips used in the over 1 billion smartphones sold each year

Broadcom Chief Executive Officer Hock Tan is contemplating an audacious $100 billion bid for Qualcomm, people familiar with the matter said, using what would be the largest technology takeover to build a powerhouse that dominates the market for wireless chips.

An offer of about $70 a share would include cash and stock and is likely to be made in the coming days, said the people. Buying Qualcomm would transform Broadcom into the third-largest chipmaker, behind Intel and Samsung Electronics, and make it the leader in chips used in the more than 1 billion smartphones sold each year. The combination would dwarf Dell’s $67 billion acquisition of EMC in 2015 — then the biggest in the technology industry —and meld Qualcomm’s dominance of chips that connect handsets to wireless networks with Broadcom’s expertise in chips that link devices to Wi-Fi networks.

“The deal makes a lot of sense,” Romit Shah, an analyst at Instinet, said on Bloomberg Television. “Broadcom would be getting $30 billion in revenue and it would be very strategic. Both companies 

have a significant presence in smartphones.”

Qualcomm shares rose as much as 19 per cent in New York in their biggest intraday move since October 2008, after Bloomberg News first reported the takeover plans. They closed up 13 per cent at $61.81, valuing the company at $91 billion. Broadcom rose 5.5 per cent, for a market valuation of about $112 billion. Representatives for Broadcom and Qualcomm declined to comment.

A serial acquirer, Broadcom’s Tan has played a pivotal role in a wave of consolidation engulfing the $300 billion semiconductor industry over the last three years. Broadcom, created in 2016 when Avago Technologies acquired Broadcom for $37 billion, has built itself from a former Hewlett Packard division into one of the largest chipmakers via a string of purchases. A former CEO of Integrated Circuit Systems who has held senior management positions at Commodore International, PepsiCo and General Motors, Tan has made it plain that he wants to strike more deals.

Tan, who holds degrees in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from Harvard Business School, laid the foundation for future dealmaking on Thursday. 

In a widely broadcast announcement alongside US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, Tan said he will move Broadcom’s headquarters to the US from Singapore.

Broadcom, which counts Apple among its largest customers, already lists San Jose, California, as a corporate co-headquarters.

Still, analysts said the domicile change would make it easier for Broadcom to launch deals from the US and complete its $5.9 billion takeover of Brocade Communications Systems. Announced last November, that transaction has been delayed at least three times by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, a panel that reviews the security risks of foreign acquisitions of American companies.

“The decision is rooted in the company’s strategy to pursue M&A and in the political reality that it has become more difficult for overseas-based companies to acquire US ones,” said Mark Lipacis, an analyst at Jefferies & Co. “We would not be surprised to see Broadcom continue to pursue large acquisitions.”

Qualcomm finds itself in a weakened state. It’s embroiled in a legal battle with Apple that has taken a toll on revenue and jeopardised a business model that made Qualcomm one of the most successful chipmakers. Before today, its shares had slumped 16 per cent this year, compared with a 41 per cent surge in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.

At issue between Qualcomm and Apple are licencing fees the chipmaker charges for patents that cover the basics of how mobile phone systems work. Apple contends Qualcomm is unfairly charging too much and illegally taking advantage of its market position in chips. To heighten pressure on Qualcomm, Apple has stopped paying the licencing fees and is planning to designing devices that exclude Qualcomm’s chips, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Qualcomm has countered that Apple, one of its largest customers, has lied to regulators in an unfair attempt to bully its opponent into charging less. It has filed lawsuits seeking to ban the sale and manufacture of iPhones in China, the world’s largest phone market.

A change of management at Qualcomm might help resolve the dispute with Apple more quickly, and thereby make Qualcomm’s licencing and chip businesses more valuable, according to Sanford C Bernstein & Co analyst Stacy Rasgon. Earlier this week, Qualcomm executives said the legal process would “proceed under the court’s schedule,” indicating no resolution soon.

“Maybe they have a better relationship with Apple, maybe they settle,” Rasgon said.

Whatever the outcome of the Apple dispute, San Diego-based Qualcomm is also confronting headwinds in closing its $47 billion purchase of NXP Semiconductors NV. The deal is facing regulatory scrutiny in Europe and opposition 

from some shareholders including activist hedge fund firm Elliott Management, which has argued the offer undervalues NXP.

Like Tan, Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf is spending time with the Trump administration. Mollenkopf is taking part in the President’s trade mission to China later this month, according to a company spokeswoman.

Aside from the financial challenges of such a large deal, Broadcom may also encounter close regulatory scrutiny. Based on 2016 revenue, the enlarged company would be the world’s third-largest chipmaker behind Intel and Samsung. That would give it control of a big part of the supply chain of vital phone components such as Wi-Fi and cellular modem chips. The two companies are already among the top 10 providers of chips in an industry that’s consolidating rapidly.