Broadcom Drops Qualcomm Bid, Pledges to Pursue U.S. HQ

Even as Broadcom formally abandoned a bid to buy Qualcomm, the chipmaker said it still planned to switch its domicile from Singapore to the U.S., according to Bloomberg.

Broadcom had first pledged to move its headquarters to the U.S. in November, a move that appeared designed to appease U.S. officials and persuade them to bless acquisitions. Now that President Donald Trump has blocked the Qualcomm deal, the Singapore chipmaker could still pursue smaller deals in the U.S., analysts say. “Broadcom will continue to move forward with its redomiciliation process,“ the company said in a statement, bringing to an official end a months-long battle to land the technology industry’s biggest ever deal.

The retreat ends CEO Hock Tan’s most ambitious move yet in his efforts to build a chip empire, after leading Broadcom through a string of deals that have reshaped the $400 billion semiconductor industry in the last several years. The company launched its unsolicited bid in November and was quickly and repeatedly rebuffed by Qualcomm’s management and board. Broadcom had been gathering support from investors to overturn its target’s resistance to a deal.