China said to restart review of Qualcomm-NXP deal

Chinese regulators have reportedly restarted their review into chipmaker Qualcomm’s planned $44 billion acquisition of NXP Semiconductor, after suspending the review due to the growing trade tensions between China and the US.

Officials at China’s Ministry of Commerce have been asked to hasten the review into the acquisition, as well as Qualcomm’s proposed remedies to protect Chinese companies to soften the deal.

According to the report, Chinese companies have expressed concerns that the combined entity would allow Qualcomm to extend its patent licensing business into areas including mobile payments and autonomous driving, which could threaten the viability of companies operating in this area.

China is the last remaining required global regulator to approve the acquisition. Regulators have been stalling the takeover for some time amid growing trade tensions with the US.

The decision to expedite the approval process may be related to the decision by US president Donald Trump to intervene to work out a solution to allow ZTE to get back in business.

The Chinese vendor was forced to cease major operations last week in the wake on a ban on the company importing components from US providers.