CHINA/FOREIGN POLICY/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump on Monday [3-12-18] blocked Broadcom Ltd.’s $117 billion hostile bid for Qualcomm Inc., capping a remarkable series of moves by the Trump administration reflecting officials’ concerns about an intensifying arms race between the U.S. and China over advanced technologies.
While Broadcom is a Singapore-based company, the U.S. panel that vets foreign deals said that the bid could have had implications for the U.S.’s broader technological competition with China. That panel, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., known as CFIUS, said it was worried that Broadcom would stymie research and development at Qualcomm given its reputation as a cost-cutting behemoth. CFIUS said such a move could weaken Qualcomm—and thereby the U.S.—against foreign rivals racing to develop next-generation wireless technology known as 5G, such as China’s Huawei Technologies Co.
Broadcom, which launched its hostile bid for Qualcomm in November in what could have become the technology industry’s biggest-ever deal, was working to redomicile in the U.S. to evade the panel’s review. But the presidential order effectively ended its acquisition hopes.
Broadcom, which has said it would invest in Qualcomm’s 5G technology if a deal went through, said late Monday it was reviewing the order… CFIUS has grown increasingly wary of any deals with potential national-security ramifications linked to China— and of any deal makers the panel perceives to be trying to evade their review.”
-Kate O’Keeffe, “Trump Orders Broadcom to Cease Attempt to Buy Qualcomm,” The Wall Street Journal online, Mar. 13, 2018 12:17am