Qualcomm says NXP deal is dead, even as China seen open to okaying it

US chipmaker Qualcomm rejected a suggestion by the White House that its collapsed $44 billion acquisition of Dutch peer NXP Semiconductors could be revived, saying the deal had been terminated as the deadline had expired.

Qualcomm, the world’s biggest smartphone chip maker, walked away in July from the mammoth deal to buy NXP after failing to secure Chinese regulatory approval, becoming a high-profile victim of the China-US trade dispute.

After high-stakes talks on Saturday between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Argentina, the White House said that China was “open to approving the previously unapproved” deal for Qualcomm to acquire NXP “should it again be presented." But Qualcomm said there was no prospect for the acquisition to be revived.

“While we were grateful to learn of President Trump and President Xi’s comments about Qualcomm’s previously proposed acquisition of NXP, the deadline for that transaction has expired, which terminated the contemplated deal,” a Qualcomm representative said via email.

“Qualcomm considers the matter closed.” Chinese regulators did not have an immediate comment. Qualcomm paid NXP a $2 billion fee to terminate the deal and embarked on a $30 billion stock repurchase plan to appease shareholders miffed by the deal falling through. It has spent more than $20 billion in share buybacks in the last 12 months. NXP has also announced its own $5 billion share buyback programme.

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