Broadcom called off its bid for Qualcomm after President Trump said that it should not go ahead. Trump cited concerns over national security (Broadcom is currently based in Singapore, but had said that it would re-domicile in the US and has said that it will still do so, to meet the terms of a previous deal.)
There was concern that Broadcom might have reduced the effort made by Qualcomm to develop 5G and let others, especially Huawei, take more of the initiative.
Analyst Comment
Intel had been talked of as a potential acquirer of Broadcom although it would have faced big regulatory hurdles. Our good friend (we bumped into him in the press room at MWC) Bob O’Donnell wrote an interesting article that compared the technology power of Qualcomm, with the commercial and cost-focused approach of Broadcom.
