Broadcom submits $121 bn final takeover offer to Qualcomm

San Francisco Feb 6 (IANS) Renewing its offer to takeover Qualcomm semiconductor manufacturer Broadcom has submitted what it calls the "best and final" bid of $121 billon to takeover the rival chipmaker -- offering $82 a share -- up from about $70 previously a media report said.

Hoping to unseat Qualcomm s entire board Broadcom raised the stakes a month before Qualcomm s annual shareholder meeting the New York Times reported late on Monday.

"Any rational board would consider what we ve put forward " Hock Tan Broadcom s Chief Executive was quoted as saying.

The move could see Broadcom becoming a tech giant whose products would be used in nearly all of the world s smartphones.

The Semiconductor Industry Association on Monday said that global chip sales surged 21.6 per cent to $412.2 billion in 2017.

Qualcomm which has locked horns with Apple over patent licensing practices sells both chips and charge a patent royalty for nearly all smartphones sold globally.

"Broadcom went after Qualcomm s business model on Monday in a voluminous set of slides and has indicated it would seek to make peace with Apple which is a major Broadcom customer for other types of wireless chips " the report said.

Interestingly some major Chinese manufacturers have expressed concerns about the deal due to Broadcom s track record of cutting spending on research and raising chip prices.

"We have a lot of respect for the tech and the innovation that comes with the 5G technology. But we believe given our track record we can do much more " Tan said.

According to the report Samsung also appeared to be siding with Qualcomm.

--IANS
sku/nks/bg