Broadcom Pledges 5G Investment to Win Approval of Qualcomm Deal<br />By MICHAEL J. de la MERCEDMARCH 7, 2018<br />The giant chip maker Broadcom pledged on Wednesday to keep the United States at the forefront of emerging mobile technology if it were to acquire<br />Qualcomm, its latest effort to allay the Trump administration’s national security concerns about its hostile $117 billion takeover bid.<br />That proactive move, all but unprecedented in the history of the panel, highlighted both how much the White House values the wireless technology known as 5G as a matter of national security<br />and its fears of falling behind China in the race to develop the standard.<br />The response came after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the government panel<br />that reviews transactions’ national security implications, ordered a delay of Qualcomm’s shareholder meeting as Broadcom sought to win a majority of the company’s board seats.<br />But while Broadcom is not Chinese — it is legally headquartered in Singapore,<br />and plans to relocate to the United States as soon as May — it has nonetheless incurred fears that it may erode Qualcomm’s lead in 5G.<br />In a statement, Broadcom said that, were it to complete what would be the largest technology deal in history, it would<br />not only maintain Qualcomm’s current spending on research and development but it would increase that amount.
