Qualcomm Acquires Chip Startup Nuvia for $1.4 Billion

Qualcomm announced Wednesday that it’s acquiring Nuvia a chip startup founded by Apple Inc veterans, for approximately $1.4 billion. Qualcomm said the acquisition of Nuvia’s CPU and technology design team will help the company “meet the demands of next-generation 5G computing.”

The deal marks a big push by Qualcomm to reestablish a leading position in chip performance after several years of high-profile patent licensing litigation with rival Apple and regulatory authorities. It also comes amid a change in the helm with Qualcomm announcing this month that Cristiano Amon, its current president and head of its silicon division, will replace outgoing CEO Steven Mollenkopf, effective June 30.

Qualcomm plans to integrate Nuvia’s CPUs across its entire portfolio of products, including smartphone chips and next-generation laptop processors, as well as Advanced Driver Assistance Systems and infrastructure networking systems. Nuvia founders Gerard Williams, Manu Gulati and John Bruno, and their employees will join Qualcomm following completion of the acquisition.

Cristiano Amon, Qualcomm’s president and CEO-Elect said;

“5G, the convergence of computing and mobile architectures, and the expansion of mobile technologies into other industries are significant opportunities for Qualcomm. The Nuvia team are proven innovators, and like Qualcomm, have a strong heritage in creating leading technology and products. Together, we are very well positioned to redefine computing and enable our ecosystem of partners to drive innovation and deliver a new class of products and experiences for the 5G era.”

In its press release announcing the deal, Qualcomm provided a list of executive quotes from its partners, all applauding the combination of the two companies. Those included come from Panos Panay, chief product officer of Microsoft; Hiroshi Lockheimer, senior vice president of platforms and ecosystems at Google; TM Roh, president and head of mobile communications at Samsung; Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun and executives from Bosch, Continental, General Motors, HMD, Honor, HP, Lenovo, LG, OnePlus, Oppo, Panasonic, Vivo, Renault, Sharp and Vivo. 

“Compute performance, connectivity and power efficiency are critical ingredients that make the billions of Android and Chrome OS devices shine,” Google’s Lockheimer said. “The addition of Nuvia extends Qualcomm’s capabilities in these three areas, and we’re excited to see the next generation of Snapdragon with Nuvia.”