I'm not so sure this should be allowed. If Qualcomm buys NXP that means they'll own Freescale. That would reduce the number of mobile phone processor manufacturers down to just Qualcomm, ST Micro, Nvidia, Apple, and Samsung. Realistically this means it will be just Qualcomm and Samsung covering almost the entire market of Android devices as the other manufacturer's chips are more niche.
I suppose maybe Marvell could catch up and wind up in more phones but they're already the bargain basement chip that winds up in cheap junk tablets. They'd have a long way to go.
Intel could also make a sudden change of course and enter the market. Their foray into tablets didn't work out well for them (I own several Intel Android tablets) but at least their performance was on par with the competition at the time.
Which matters more is, that NXP and Freescale (now part of NXP) are strong in automotive, which is not so much niche you think it is. While there is a smartphone comparable processor in the head unit, it is surrounded by about 40 to 60 Cortex-Mx processors and comparable.
Then think about the growing market of IoT, which also benefit from those automotive Coretx-Mx processors and their cheap prices.
The smartphone market is done and settled, with small improvements. But the IoT market is the one which will be disruptive.
I can't recall any recent design wins for NXP and/or Freescale in the smartphone market.
NXP really had no Cortex-A solutions before acquiring Freescale, and Freescale's i.MX series hasn't been in a phone for years, if at all. They did have some early wins in mobile books, but not much more.
NXP is now targeting the i.MX line for automotive HMI/IVI use. The automotive-class chip domain has always been a specialty of NXP (nee Freescale nee Motorola Automotive nee Motorola Semiconductor)
I believe NXP has an NFC chip in a few different iPhone revs.
But I think NFC chipsets are noise in this acquisition, I think this is all about QCOM missing the boat on automotive and buying their way into this market via NXP.
The real loser here is Intel who really doesn't have a compelling automotive story (aside from maybe Altera) and risks loosing to QCOM in handsets AND automotive.
Automotive isn't just about the application processor showing rear-camera video and 3D maps, there are a lot of other pieces needed and Moto/Freescale has had that market share for a very long time (at least with the American automakers).
QCOM is currently making most of its profits from 3G and 4G licensing, and those royalties have been threatened by poor manufacturer cooperation and protectionist regulatory actions in China and South Korea.
Buying NXPI (and its many technologies) gives QCOM an escape path to diversify away from a maturing mobile handset market, with many foreign manufacturers in countries with a different view on IP.
I agree. Competetive reasoning aside this would leave ST Micro as the last wholly European player in that market (and NXP already is the last major one in the EU, ST being based in Switzerland). In theory Infineon could re-enter the mobile processor and memory market, but I think they left that turf for good, 10 years ago.
So I think EU authorities might have a word in this.
There was massive amount of questionavle mergers lately: Altera + Intel, Fairchild + Onsemi, now this. We stepping into the age of monopolies, dear readers.
Altera + Intel? I get it, Altera was a 17B dollar deal, but come on. Intel buying AMD would be more cause for concern about monopolies, and that would be a far smaller deal.
I suppose maybe Marvell could catch up and wind up in more phones but they're already the bargain basement chip that winds up in cheap junk tablets. They'd have a long way to go.
Intel could also make a sudden change of course and enter the market. Their foray into tablets didn't work out well for them (I own several Intel Android tablets) but at least their performance was on par with the competition at the time.