Industry Expert Blogs

President Trump's order prohibiting Broadcom from taking over Qualcomm is all about China, especially Huawei.

The order’s argument was based on a March 5 letter from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS). It said Broadcom’s attempted takeover of Qualcomm could pose a risk to U.S. national security. Huawei, was everywhere to be seen in the letter.

For example, CFIUS worried that “Chinese companies, including Huawei, have increased their engagement in 5G standardization working groups as part of their efforts to build out a 5G technology.” It added that “given well-known U.S. national security concerns about Huawei and other Chinese telecommunications companies, a shift to Chinese dominance in 5G would have substantial negative national security consequences for the U.S.”

Qualcomm had come up with many pretty wild arguments against the deal, but it never landed on the one proffered by CFIUS--a lack of R&D for 5G could give Huawei an edge to dominate the 5G world, threatening U.S. national security.

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