Lessons from the Broadcom-Qualcomm Debacle

Bolaji Ojo, EETimes
8/3/2018 00:01 AM EDT

So, you thought Hock Tan was done? Not by a long shot. The Broadcom Inc. CEO isn’t your typical high-tech industry leader. That’s very clear now. A few months after failing to clinch what was trumpeted as the biggest M&A transaction in the history of the semiconductor market, Tan stormed back with a different deal that heralds just how much of an impact his company will yet make on the technology industry.

The recently-announced — all-cash — $19 billion offer for CA Technologies stunned many technology industry observers because it takes Broadcom outside the conventional semiconductor segment and was, in many ways, completely different from the series of acquisitions Tan used to build the company into the top chipmaker it is today. The main surprise to many observers, including industry analysts, is that Broadcom is an entrenched chip supplier while CA Technologies is a software vendor.

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