Intel does not want Broadcom to buy Qualcomm, the Wall Street Journal-- leading Chipzilla to consider stopping the merger by... buying Broadcom, a company analysts estimate is worth over $100 billion.
Why would Intel want to stop the acquisition from taking place? Anonymous sources tell the WSJ Intel considers such a combined company a "serious competitive threat." And just as well, since a merged Broadcom-Qualcomm would make the 3rd biggest chipmaker in the world, following Intel and Samsung.
A Broadcom-Qualcomm would be a powerhouse in smartphone chips with a strong presence in datacentres. In addition Qualcomm is in the process of buying NXP Semiconductors, a Dutch specialist in automotive chips, another area of interest for Intel. Finally, according to analyst Bernstein Research combined Broadcom-Qualcomm revenues total nearly $40 bn for fiscal 2017, "formidable" even compared to Intel revenues of $63bn for the same period.
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