Europe approves Qualcomm-NXP deal
The acquisition has now been approved in 8 out of 9 juridstictions that Qualcomm was seeking around the world with China remaining.
To obtain the latest approvals Qualcomm has made agreements around near-field communication (NFC) patents that are essential to contactless payment. Qualcomm said it has agreed to exclude certain near-field communication (NFC) patents from the proposed transaction and to ensure that NXP licenses those patents to third patents. It has also said it will not assert NFC patents it will acquire from NXP and that it will maintain interoperability between Qualcomm’s baseband chipsets and NXP’s NFC chips and baseband chipsets and NFC chips from rivals. Qualcomm also said it will continue to offer to license out the MIFARE technology on terms equivalent to those offered by NXP today.
The European Commission said that its approval is conditional on full compliance with commitments offered by Qualcomm.
Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: “We use our smartphones for many different things and now also more and more as mobile wallets, to pay for public transport or make other secure payments. With this decision, we ensure that Qualcomm’s takeover of NXP will not prevent consumers from continuing to enjoy the benefits of these innovative technologies at competitive prices.“
Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf said he was optimistic that China will clear the deal soon.
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