President Trump, Citing National Security Concerns, Signs Order Preventing Broadcom From Buying Qualcomm

March 12, 2018, 08:04 PM EDT

Citing national security issues, President Donald Trump late Monday ordered that Broadcom immediately abandon its proposed acquisition of Qualcomm.

Trump, in the presidential order issued Monday, wrote that there is "credible evidence" that Broadcom's proposed move to exercise control of Qualcomm "might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States."

The order is in response to Singapore-based Broadcom's proposal to acquire San Diego-based Qualcomm for $121 billion, a move that Qualcomm's board of directors unanimously rejected last month.

Trump, in his rejection of the Qualcomm acquisition, wrote, "The proposed takeover of Qualcomm by the Purchaser is prohibited, and any substantially equivalent merger, acquisition, or takeover, whether effected (sic) directly or indirectly, is also prohibited."

He also wrote that the 15 people proposed by Broadcom as candidates for the Qualcomm board of directors are disqualified from standing for election as directors of Qualcomm.

Broadcom and Qualcomm are also ordered to certify in writing to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) that they have taken all steps to abandon the merger.

Qualcomm and Broadcom did not respond to a request by CRN.

Joseph F. Kovar

Joseph F. Kovar is a senior editor and reporter for the storage and the non-tech-focused channel beats for CRN. He keeps readers abreast of the latest issues related to such areas as data life-cycle, business continuity and disaster recovery, and data centers, along with related services and software, while highlighting some of the key trends that impact the IT channel overall. He can be reached at jkovar@thechannelcompany.com.