Crustal Movement
The Wall Street Journal reported on March 10 that Intel is considering acquiring Broadcom that is attempting to acquire Qualcomm. According to the report, Intel is regarding Broadcom’s acquisition of Qualcomm as a significant threat and considering acquiring Broadcom along with a small semiconductor company.
At present, Broadcom’s and Intel’s total market caps are US$104.2 billion and US$244.2 billion, respectively. Given the little difference, Intel is unlikely to be able to easily take over Broadcom. In this context, the Wall Street Journal said that Intel’s plan is to block Broadcom from acquiring Qualcomm.
Broadcom revealed its plan to acquire Qualcomm in November last year. More recently, Broadcom officially announced that it would acquire Qualcomm for US$117 billion. Most Qualcomm board members and employees regarded the acquisition as a fait accompli in view of Broadcom’s strong will and the business integration trend in the industry.
However, the situation drastically changed after the U.S. government put a brake last month. At that time, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) told Qualcomm to postpone its shareholders’ meeting, mentioning security reasons. This is why Intel’s plan to take over Broadcom is regarded as the U.S. government’s intervention to fulfill its role in the communications and semiconductor industries.