December 3, 2018 – Chinese President Xi Jinping told U.S. President Donald Trump in their talks Saturday that he is “open to approving” the plan of U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. to take over Dutch counterpart NXP Semiconductors N.V., a deal Chinese authorities did not grant regulatory approval to earlier this year.
Xi made the remark as the two leaders met on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires, the White House said.
The takeover, announced in October 2016, was approved by other regions such as the European Union, but China remained the only holdout through the deal’s deadline in July this year.
Qualcomm subsequently terminated the deal and paid a termination fee to NXP. China’s effective rejection came after Trump imposed a ban on Chinese telecommunications equipment maker ZTE Corp.’s purchase of parts from U.S. firms and started imposing additional tariffs on Chinese goods over alleged intellectual property theft.