The Chinese president would be open to approving the acquisition of NXP should Qualcomm propose again, according to the White House.

Wei Shi

December 3, 2018

2 Min Read
Qualcomm-NXP deal could be back on

The Chinese president would be open to approving the acquisition of NXP should Qualcomm propose again, according to the White House.

The American and Chinese presidents met during the G20 event in Argentina to cover an array of thorny issues. The White House press secretary’s statement on 1 December included the key points. On trade, “President Trump has agreed that on January 1, 2019, he will leave the tariffs on $200 billion worth of product at the 10% rate, and not raise it to 25% at this time.”

However, this is conditional on a few concessions from China, including substantial increased purchase of American products, and structural changes with respect to forced technology transfer, intellectual property protection, non-tariff barriers, cyber intrusions and cyber theft, services and agriculture. “If at the end of this period of time (90 days), the parties are unable to reach an agreement, the 10% tariffs will be raised to 25%”, the statement said.

The last point on the statement related to Qualcomm’s proposed acquisition of NXP.  The statement said “President Xi also stated that he is open to approving the previously unapproved Qualcomm-NXP deal should it again be presented to him.” The deal, after repeatedly missing extended deadlines, was called off in July after China had refused to approve it.

As is typical with meetings like this, each party has been trumpeting its own triumphs. Bloomberg compared how the results were communicated differently in the two countries’ official channels. The Qualcomm-NXP reconsideration, together with the 90-day deadline and a few other points, was not mentioned by the Chinese official media. In a more bizarre twist, the official translation of the White House statement produced by the American Embassy in China is said to have been blocked from sharing on WeChat, the popular social network in China.

About the Author(s)

Wei Shi

Wei leads the Telecoms.com Intelligence function. His responsibilities include managing and producing premium content for Telecoms.com Intelligence, undertaking special projects, and supporting internal and external partners. Wei’s research and writing have followed the heartbeat of the telecoms industry. His recent long form publications cover topics ranging from 5G and beyond, edge computing, and digital transformation, to artificial intelligence, telco cloud, and 5G devices. Wei also regularly contributes to the Telecoms.com news site and other group titles when he puts on his technology journalist hat. Wei has two decades’ experience in the telecoms ecosystem in Asia and Europe, both on the corporate side and on the professional service side. His former employers include Nokia and Strategy Analytics. Wei is a graduate of The London School of Economics. He speaks English, French, and Chinese, and has a working knowledge of Finnish and German. He is based in Telecom.com’s London office.

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