Qualcomm plans to acquire NXP

Qualcomm is currently the second largest chip maker in the world. However, things might change in a few years. This market is moving quite fast since NXP Semiconductors acquired well-known US-based company Freescale. A Motorola since 2004, Freescale joined NXP for almost $17 billion. Now, NXP is on its way to join Qualcomm.

According to Bloomberg Technology, Qualcomm "will acquire NXP Semiconductors NV in a transaction valued at $47 billion, aiming to speed an expansion into new industries and reduce its dependence on the smartphone market." This means the second chip maker overall will grab the fourth one, but it gets even better - while Qualcomm is the largest maker of chips for mobile phones, NXP is also the largest supplier of chips for the automotive industry.

This move will allow Qualcomm to maintain a steady growth rate since the smart applications for the automotive industry have a long road ahead and the increase in their demand exceeds the one in the smartphone sector by far. According to Qualcomm, once the regulators approve this acquisition, the resulting company will grow to a combined sales volume of almost $140 billion by 2020.