The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is expected to launch an in-depth investigation into Qualcomm’s acquisition of Israeli automotive chipmaker Autotalks on Wednesday, Politico reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
In May this year, Qualcomm said it would acquire Israel’s Autotalks, a manufacturer of automotive anti-collision technology chips, but did not disclose the terms of the transaction.
Autotalks produces specialized chips for V2X communication technology for manned and driverless vehicles and will help Qualcomm expand its automotive-related business.
Last week, EU regulators also said the U.S. chipmaker must seek EU antitrust approval for the planned acquisition.
The EU competition watchdog said 15 EU countries including France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden had asked it to review the deal.
Qualcomm, Autotalks and the Federal Trade Commission did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In early August, Qualcomm forecast fourth-quarter sales below market expectations as consumer spending on gadgets such as smartphones continues to be weak amid slowing global economic growth.
The U.S. chipmaker said Autotalk’s technology will be incorporated into its assisted and autonomous driving products called Snapdragon Digital Chassis.
Qualcomm said in September last year that its automotive business “pipeline” or potential future orders had grown by more than $10 billion (about 821 billion rupees) to $30 billion (about 2461 billion rupees) since it announced its third-quarter results in late July as automakers increasingly equipped cars with driver assistance systems.
The company attributes the leap to its Snapdragon digital chassis products and competes with Intel-owned Mobileye Global and Nvidia for this market share.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
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