Announced today, the purchase agreement for NXP has already been approved unanimously by the boards of both companies. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of 2017, although it's subject to the usual review by regulatory authorities in the U.S. and Europe.
Founded in 1985 and based in San Diego, Qualcomm has steadily expanded its offerings from its first CDMA digital wireless technologies to include the flagship Snapdragon system-on-chip (SoC) used in a wide range of mobile devices. Originally launched in 1963 as Philips Semiconductors, Netherlands-based NXP was renamed after a sale in 2006 and has become a leading global supplier of semiconductors for automotive networking, radio frequency identification, security and IoT.
"The combination of Qualcomm and NXP will bring together all technologies required to realize our vision of secure connections for the smarter world, combining advanced computing and ubiquitous connectivity with security and high performance mixed-signal solutions including microcontrollers," NXP CEO Rick Clemmer (pictured above) said in a statement. "United in a common strategy, the complementary nature of our technologies and the scale of our portfolios will give us the ability to drive an accelerated level of innovation and value for the whole ecosystem."
By joining forces, Qualcomm and NXP hope their complementary technologies will open up new opportunities in a range of "strategically important areas," including automotive connectivity and infotainment, IoT, mobile payment security as well as wired and wireless communications. The combined company is also expected to expand the...