Qualcomm in talks to buy NXP Semiconductors for more than $30 bn

Qualcomm Inc, the world's biggest chipset maker, is in talks to acquire NXP Semiconductors NV, in an over $30-billion deal, The Wall Street Journal yesterday reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

A deal could be finalised in the next two to three months, but Qualcomm is also exploring other deal options, the report said.

Shares of Nasdaq-listed NXP rose by 17 per cent yesterday after The Wall Street Journal report, giving the Netherlands-based company a market value of $33 billion.

NXP, which this year acquired Texas-based Freescale Semiconductor for $11.8-billion becoming the biggest player in the automotive and industrial semiconductor markets, is the world's fifth-largest non-memory semiconductor supplier, and a leading semiconductor supplier for the Secure Identification, Automotive and Digital Networking industries (See: NXP gets conditional US antitrust approval to buy Freescale Semiconductor).

The Eindhoven-based company, which was carved out of Dutch consumer electronics giant Philips, was sold to a consortium of private equity firms in 2006 and changed its name to NXP.

It holds more than 9,000 issued or pending patents, provides mixed signal and standard product solutions based on its security, identification, automotive, networking, RF, analog, and power management expertise.

The company employs around 45,000 people in more than 35 countries, and has annual revenue of $6.1 billion.

Last year, it sold its RF Power business that is used primarily for manufacturing, research, and development of RF power amplifiers, to state-owned investment firm Jianguang Asset Management for $1.8 billion, and this year agreed to sell its Standard Products unit to Jianguang and private-equity firm Wise Road Capital for about $2.75 billion.

Qualcomm, which has a market value of around $93 billion, is the third-largest semiconductor company in terms of revenue.

The California-based company generates most of its $25.3 billion annual revenue from chip sales and the bulk of its profit from patent licensing.