Singapore based Broadcom laid an audacious $117 billion to buy Qualcomm which was quashed by President Trump. Talking about the deal President Donald Trump said there is "credible evidence" that the deal would "impair the national security of the United States". If the deal were to go through it would have been the biggest single technology takeover on record and Broadcom would become the third largest microchip maker in the world behind Intel and Samsung. The company had been pursuing San Diego based Qualcomm for more than four months.

Broadcom CEO Hock Tan stated during his meeting with President Trump that they were going to relocate the legal headquarters of the company back to the United States.

A move which President Trump had quoted as being "a win for the American people".

Broadcom's hostile takeover of Qualcomm was already under scrutiny by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, the agency that investigates deals that could potentially give foreign control over American companies. As per a memo by a Treasury Department official, CFIUS was investigating the "risks associated with Broadcom's relationship with other foreign entities" as well as "national security effects of Broadcom's business intentions with respect to Qualcomm."

Broadcom was still reviewing the order by President Trump and speaking on behalf of Broadcom, a company official had this to say “Broadcom strongly disagrees that its proposed acquisition of Qualcomm raises any national security concerns,".

Is the Broadcom Qualcomm deal completely dead?

While President Trump has discussed "security concerns," many actually believe that this deal was blocked to ensure the US remains competitive in the 5G race. Qualcomm has invested a lot of time and money in R&D in the field of 5G technology. They are in a heated race to create microchips for 5G wireless technology with China's leading telecom giants Huawei.

Broadcom has claimed however that if the takeover of Qualcomm was to be successful they would ensure that the United States would continue to pave the way and be global leaders in 5G technology. Broadcom has even gone so far as to commit a fund of $1.5 billion to train US engineers.

It is easy to be skeptical because while Qualcomm has grown due to their strength in research and development, Broadcom's growth strategy has usually been acquisitions and selling assets.

Also keeping in mind President Trump's protectionism policies towards US companies it might not be very surprising to see this deal come to no fruition. It may all change when Broadcom move their headquarters to the US, but for now, we will have to wait and watch.
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