1. Chinese regulators meeting Qualcomm this week will either conditionally release NXP transactions;
Report on May 28th from Micronet (Reporter Zhang Yiqun) There are growing signs that Chinese regulators will eventually release Qualcomm’s acquisition of NXP.
According to Reuters news, Qualcomm will meet with China’s anti-trust agency in Beijing this week to obtain approval for its acquisition of NXP.
At present, whether or not the Qualcomm NXP Transaction can be approved by the Chinese regulatory authorities is still affected by the trade situation between the two countries, depending on the outcome of the Sino-US talks. Based on the current easing of trade relations between China and the US, Qualcomm now continues the transaction. And it is very optimistic.
Previously, the two sides have conducted two rounds of trade negotiations and achieved some results. This Saturday, US Commerce Secretary Ross will lead the team to Beijing for a third business consultation. Sources said that Qualcomm may have prior to the round of consultations. , Meet with China's antitrust agency.
It is understood that Qualcomm had communicated with the State Administration of Supervision and Administration on Friday and obtained the result of 'fruitful' talks.
Qualcomm is now preparing to submit a new proposal to the State Administration of Supervision, which aims to provide final licensing and guarantees. When Qualcomm retransmitted its transaction application in April, the Ministry of Commerce stated that it provided protection and remedies for local companies. Insufficient measures, Chinese domestic companies expressed concern that this transaction will expand Qualcomm's patent licensing business to mobile payment and autopilot.
Last Friday, the Trump administration stated that it had reached a plan to help ZTE resume operations, including paying US$1.3 billion in fines and making management-level adjustments, but the US Congress did not want to miss ZTE. The latest news The U.S. Department of Commerce announced that it had lifted the ban on ZTE’s sales and notified the U.S. Congress.
The previous Wall Street Journal reported that the State Administration of Supervision will hold a meeting on Monday to discuss Qualcomm’s acquisition of NXP, and the final result may be conditional release.
As of press time, Bloomberg quoted informed sources as saying that the anti-monopoly review conducted by China’s anti-monopoly reviewing authority on Qualcomm’s acquisition of NXP has removed all substantive obstacles and that regulators are satisfied with Qualcomm’s current remedial measures.
According to the source, the supervisory authority received instructions from the top. Once China has resolved the issue of the ZTE ban from the United States, approval of the conditionality of the Qualcomm acquisition can be given. The review currently has only a procedural process left, and the regulatory body can give it at any time. Case approval with conditions. (Proofreading/Fan Rong)
2. Qualcomm adjustment policy: Executives are allowed to get severance payments after being acquired;
Sina Technology News Beijing time May 28 morning news, Qualcomm submitted the regulatory documents submitted on Friday showed that if the company's executives were dismissed after the change of control of the company, they are eligible for a cash severance fee. This changed There has been no policy for senior managers to provide such fees.
According to the document, Qualcomm executive vice presidents and high-level employees are eligible to receive 1.5 times the severance payment for their annual salary and bonuses, and they can also cover their medical benefits over a period of time. CEO Steve 2. Steve Mollenkopf will receive twice the salary and bonus.
These executives can also get any unexercised stock awards, some of which depend on the stock price performance of the company. Qualcomm had not previously made clear its commitment to severance pay for senior executives. The document stated that this new plan can ensure that executives can continue Focus on your contribution to the company.
Prior to this, when the company faced Bertone's hostile takeover in December last year, it formulated a similar policy for employees of the following levels of executive vice presidents. The plan issued severance fees based on the employees’ salary, grade, and working hours. The cost of layoffs for major acquirers.
President Trump dismissed Broadcom’s bid for Qualcomm on the grounds of national security in March this year. But even if it can complete the acquisition, Qualcomm faces many difficulties, including legal disputes with regulators and Apple, and its market share has declined. , The stock price fell.
Although many U.S. listed companies will provide senior executives with severance payments that are three times the annual salary and bonuses after the company is acquired, Apple and Google’s parent company, Alphabet and other large technology companies, do not have such policies. (Book) Sina Science and technology
3. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Ross will arrive in Beijing on Saturday. Qualcomm and NXP will pass on their intentions;
After the second round of trade negotiations between China and the United States ended, the case of Qualcomm’s long-time international chip giant, Qualcomm’s acquisition of NXP Semiconductors, also took a turn for the better. Informed sources disclosed that Qualcomm intends to arrive before the US Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, arrives in Beijing this weekend. , First talks with the Chinese government's anti-monopoly department, for China's approval of its acquisition of NXP Semiconductors.
Reuters quoted three sources as saying that the recent Sino-U.S. trade situation is not as aggressive as ever. Qualcomm is currently 'cautiously optimistic' about the NXP acquisition. Qualcomm has sent a special team on Friday (25). Meeting with officials of China's State Market Administration Bureau, the two sides held a 'constructive' meeting.
According to the report, Qualcomm's acquisition of NXP began in 2016, and the scale of the acquisition was as large as 44 billion US dollars. It needs the approval of the antitrust agencies of nine countries and regions in the world, but now only the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China has not yet approved the transaction.
In the middle of last month, when Sino-U.S. trade relations were in tension, Qualcomm had re-filed the case with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, but a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce said shortly afterwards that Qualcomm’s acquisition of NXP has a profound impact on the industry and may not be conducive to the market. Competition, investigation agencies spend a lot of time investigating and collecting evidence.
However, in mid-May, at the turn of the Sino-U.S. trade negotiations, sources said that the Chinese Ministry of Commerce had been asked to accelerate the review of the NXP case. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce also released goodwill at the time, approving Qualcomm and Datang Telecom. The joint venture was established in the case of Junsheng Technology. Recently US President Trump also said that it will allow ZTE to resume business, showing that both China and the United States have begun to release certain goodwill.
If NXP is successfully acquired, Qualcomm is expected to diversify its business and strengthen its leading position in 5G communications. Last week, Qualcomm President Cristiano Amon also visited Beijing, China, and Guizhou, and in Beijing, Qualcomm’s “Nine Dragons”. 710' chip release event platform.
Recently, Amon also came to Guiyang, Guizhou, to attend the '2018 China International Big Data Industry Expo' (Bloom Fair) and met with Guizhou Provincial Party Committee Secretary Sun Zhigang and others. He expressed his willingness to support the development of the Guizhou big data industry and the Chinese semiconductor industry. Newsletter 4. In the ZTE case, did the president and the Congress fight each other, or was Trump’s one-man show?
After the round of Sino-U.S. trade negotiations, China and the United States finally reached a substantive solution to the issue of ZTE.
Has always been adhering to the 'unprofitable early' creed, 'tweet' swinging between various policies President Trump announced that ZTE is completing a 'high level of security, reorganizing management and the board of directors to purchase After the US parts list and the payment of a fine of US$1.3 billion, 'the lifting of the ban on U.S. companies’ sales to ZTE’.
This is a major decision related to the life and death of ZTE since the US government issued the ban on April 17. The prospects for ZTE's future seem to be moving in a good direction.
However, before the ban was lifted, the attitude and internal game of the United States continued. The struggle between the U.S. government headed by U.S. President Trump and the U.S. Congress was even more exciting than the ban. It was like the U.S. government. The two arms of this giant object, the 'right and left' battles, have become more and more intense in these days.
President and Congress 'move side by side'
On May 26, according to a CCTV news report, citing U.S. media reports, the US Department of Commerce informed the U.S. Congress on the lifting of ZTE’s sales ban on May 25, 2010. It is proposed to lift restrictions on U.S. companies selling accessories and software products to ZTE. The ban.
The New York Times also issued a document on the same day that the U.S. Department of Commerce has reached a new agreement for ZTE’s penalties. After ZTE completed the payment of a large fine, hired a US compliance officer to enter the company, and replaced the management team, it lifted ZTE's 7-year ban. After that, US President Trump's tweet also confirmed this news.
And this news, which caused a great uproar in the US Congress, angered some of the U.S. MPs.
In the tweets, the Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer even stated that if the ZTE was released in accordance with the agreement in the report, then the Chinese government will become the largest real winner.
In fact, the previous week, when Trump announced that he would ease the punishment for ZTE and help ZTE recover quickly, most members of the U.S. Congress antagonized Trump, but now it will only be more open to this attitude. .
Some US congressmen claimed that the equipment manufactured by ZTE and other Chinese companies may pose a threat to cyber security and have been urging them to impose more restrictions on ZTE.
There are even 32 Senate Democrats who signed the joint letter, accusing Trump of placing China’s interests above US employment and national security.
At the same time, Trump was not idle.
A spokeswoman for the White House said: 'This is an enforcement action that is under the charge of the Ministry of Commerce. We are ensuring that ZTE is responsible for the violation of U.S. sanctions and pays a heavy price. At the same time, we are protecting our security infrastructure and U.S. employment. Opportunity. '
In addition, according to the Wall Street Journal, on the one hand, Trump will send a trade delegation headed by Secretary of Commerce Ross to visit China this week. On the other hand, he is busy blocking Congress in the United States.
You should know that on May 22, an amendment was passed at the hearing of the Senate Banking Committee of the United States Congress to limit Trump’s relaxation of sanctions against ZTE. If the amendment is later in the voting, Passed, Trump's position on ZTE does not have any substantive meaning, and it cannot take further measures.
Trump's 'one-man show'
Then, in the event of ZTE, what role does the US Congress and the U.S. government play in the end, and why does this kind of 'right-and-left' chaos occur, and what impact will it have on future trends?
This has to say about the United States' system of separation of powers.
In the United States, the three powers refer to legislative power, executive power and judicial power respectively. The three parties are independent. Among them, the legislative power belongs to the US Congress and the administrative power belongs to the President. These two parties are currently fighting each other and the judicial power is vested in the court.
In the case of ZTE, Trump, as the president and his subordinate US government department, exercised administrative power. The ban signed and issued in April also belonged to the executive order.
To be precise, the executive order is the signed 'red-head file' that Trump has sent to the U.S. government. It does not require the approval of the U.S. Congress. The U.S. constitution must impose an executive privilege on the president.
In other words, the U.S. government’s ban on sales for ZTE was an executive order issued by the U.S. government and could be implemented without the approval of the U.S. Congress.
Now what kind of role does the US Congress jump out?
Since the setup of the administrative agency and the required funding are approved by the U.S. Congress, the National Assembly has the power to supervise the implementation of the administration. That is, in the event of ZTE, the U.S. Congress only has the right to supervise the execution of the ban, and now Trump wants Slowing the ban on sales, fundamentally speaking, Congress has no right to prevent the execution of this executive order.
Of course, the Congress can also overturn the president’s executive order, but it must be passed by legislation, that is, the bill passed on the 22nd after the parliament voted to form a law that could overturn this order.
But the more dogmatic plot lies in the fact that the U.S. constitution stipulates that Trump still has the right to veto the law passed by Congress to overturn his administrative order.
That is, the president wanted to do an anecdote, the parliamentary fee Jin Bala set a law, the president said that the overthrow would overturn, the president should do what and what to do, the Congress has no right to intervene. For the ZTE event, the result depends on the special Ramp's idea.
It can be said that the current wrestling between Trump and the U.S. Congress for ZTE seems to be 'moving right and left'. It is more like Trump’s own will to make trade-offs, which is the so-called 'unicorn'. '!
Who can change the fate of ZTE?
Is there anyone who can overturn this decision?
This is about the other party in the separation of powers that has not been staged so far: the US court.
Since an executive order is a presidential order that does not require Congress, it has the same legal effect as the law passed by Congress. There are only a few ways to reverse this order:
First of all, an administrative order cannot violate the law. Theoretically, every administrative order must be assessed by the Office of the Legal Counsel. If there is scope beyond the scope of the law, judicial assessment is required. Therefore, this article can be passed.
Second, it was the legislation of the Congress mentioned earlier that stopped the executive order. However, Trump has the right to veto this law or not.
Finally, it is the US court that can announce the executive order issued by the president. The rules and regulations promulgated by the executive authorities are unconstitutional. This should be the most feasible way. However, the president also has the right to fight back through legal channels.
With the current participation of only the National Assembly and the President, the U.S. courts have yet to issue any attitude, and it is still not clear how likely the U.S. courts will take this measure in the future.
In fact, judging from the current development situation, the struggle between the U.S. government and the U.S. Congress is more like the common trading method used by Trump: on the one hand, it constantly exerts pressure on its opponents, and on the other hand, it manipulates the situation skillfully to take advantage of opportunities for the United States. To obtain greater benefits from China, we can see from the two very different speeches that Trump made on the 13th and the 23rd.
For longer-term goals, it may be based on this and win the U.S. mid-term election. If we look at this point of view, Congress has no right to veto Trump's orders in addition to legislation, the court has not yet entered the 'fighting' and what will happen in the future? "Thank Drama" will depend on how Trump performed! (Proofreading / Fan Rong) 5. Interview with Qualcomm's Global President: Why Do You Look Forward to the Data Center Market?
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, May 28th (Ling Jiwei) Recently, the 2018 China International Big Data Industry Expo (abbreviation for several exhibitions) was held in Guiyang. In recent years, Qualcomm and Guizhou have established strategic cooperation to promote the implementation of Guizhou’s big data strategy. The important role, especially the joint venture company Huaxintong, is exemplary. During the Expo, Qualcomm Global CEO Christiano Amon gave an insight into Qualcomm’s data center market layout and technology advantages, and how 5G can promote data center transformation. And Qualcomm and China to further expand cooperation and other topics to accept Xinhuanet and other media interviews.
Why Qualcomm does not exit the data center market
Recently, news about Qualcomm's abandonment of server chip-related projects has been heard. With the announcement of Qualcomm’s press conference at Huaxintong’s promotion on May 25th, it will continue to support technical and financial cooperation with Huaitong, a joint venture company established in Guizhou Province. The development of server chips meant that Qualcomm did not stop data center technology development as rumors suggested.
'There is no exit from the data center market.' In Amon's view, the data center market based on the ARM architecture does not have access barriers in the software field. This is totally different from the X86 architecture. This market opportunity mainly comes from two aspects. The first is the concentration of major cloud service providers from China and the United States. The second is that the market potential lies in marginal computing. Through the edge terminals of 5G networks, it is possible to enhance or even achieve some of the data center processing capabilities.
Huaxintong is a joint venture established between Qualcomm and the Guizhou Provincial Government in January 2016. It is committed to designing, developing and selling advanced server chips based on the ARM architecture for the Chinese market. At present, Huaxintong has achieved initial cooperation results, its first. On behalf of the server chip has completed R & D tape, will be put into the market by the end of the year.
Qualcomm not only did not stop the development of its data center technology. As a major shareholder of Huaxintong, Qualcomm plans to increase its support. According to Armon, both parties are conducting a joint assessment, is it possible to put Qualcomm in the field of data centers? Regarding products, the power is concentrated on the Huaxintong platform. Amon said that no matter what conclusions are reached, it will not affect Qualcomm’s commitment to the Huaxintong joint venture. Qualcomm’s support and scope will only be further strengthened in the future.
The rumors of abandoning the development of server chips are believed to be related to the strategic adjustment Qualcomm has recently made to reduce expenses in non-core areas to focus its business. On the one hand, Qualcomm’s clear future focus is on promoting the development of 5G in the field of mobile communications. To achieve, on the other hand, to extend more attention to those industries that are transformed and transformed by mobile communication technologies, especially the Internet of Things, automotive and other industries, and artificial intelligence.
In fact, Qualcomm's investment in data center products and technologies does not detract from the overall consideration of the company's future development. This is because Qualcomm has noticed a trend, that is, with the intelligent devices with sensing capabilities, the data is changing. In the cloud, but with 5G, the cloud will also be pushed to the edge of the network.
'We have not only good opportunities for growth in big data, but also another particularly good growth opportunity. Big data and cloud computing have been shifting to the edge of the network. 'Amon held a high-level dialogue during the Expo. According to the report, 5G is extremely fast. It can provide mission-critical services and achieve Ethernet performance, so that these devices can access and use high-performance computing services at the edge of the network. This will lead to more and more advanced applications. , These devices will also become very smart, you can use machine learning and other leading technologies to create new opportunities, so that big data companies can enter a new field.
In addition, the integration of big data, data center and mobile communications is being realized. The market is ushering in a very exciting period of development.
In view of this, Amon said that Qualcomm will continue to invest in data center technology to better support Huaxintong and help Huaxin to strengthen cooperation with China's major cloud service providers. 'For Huaxintong, Because its products are mainly aimed at data centers, not only today, but also in the coming 5G era will play an increasingly important role. 'He said.
What is the advantage of Qualcomm's server chip?
In fact, x86 products have absolutely 'speech' in terms of server chip market share alone. With the increasing demand in the data center market, many chip manufacturers have been hoping to provide processors for some large data center operators to break the x86 architecture. Market dominance.
As Amon said, ARM-based server chips have their own advantages, ARM architecture has a very high position in the mobile chip market. Last year, a number of semiconductor companies such as Qualcomm launched ARM-based server chips, process technology is mainly 10nm and 7nm , The target achieves 25% market share in 2021. At present, the market position of ARM architecture server chip is rising.
In promoting the development of smart phone technology and smart phone SOC, Qualcomm has promoted the processing capability of the chip continuously. This year it has successfully expanded to PC products. In the field of data center, Amon believes that Qualcomm itself has the advantage of developing server chips. .
One of the differentiated advantages is high performance and low power consumption. Statistics show that in the world total power consumption, data center power consumption has already accounted for 20%. Therefore, as data processing capabilities continue to increase, The requirements for low-power features in future data centers are becoming more and more prominent. The low-power, high-performance capabilities of the chips are precisely the long-term tradition and strengths of Qualcomm in the field of smart phones. Amon also mentioned that in the 5G era, the past has focused on The processing power in the data center can be extended to the edge of the network through the increasing deployment of 5G networks, that is, more and more distributed computing and multiple processing methods can be implemented. Under such circumstances, further reducing power consumption becomes even more significant. Important, especially considering the direction of data center transformation.
Another advantage stems from machine learning. Nowadays, the structure of data centers is changing. In the past, most of the operations were mainly focused on multi-core processors. Now parallel processing is more used to better support machine learning, such as GPU, MPU. Newer processors are becoming more important. This series of technologies is also the support that Qualcomm can provide in the data center field, helping to transform this field.
In short, the advantages of Qualcomm are its high performance, low power consumption, and the fact that the data center's computing architecture has been centered on multi-core CPUs in the past and is increasingly turning to parallel processing and the coexistence of various types of processors. Next, Qualcomm can provide multiple types of high-performance processing capabilities in the data center area.
At the beginning of the server chip market, Qualcomm invited several major US cloud service providers to evaluate their products. Excitingly, they gave positive feedback on Qualcomm's technology, products, and product roadmap.
Amon said that Qualcomm’s current focus is to continue to focus on developing the technology in the roadmap. At the same time, it is considering ways to realize the development of large-scale data center products, such as concentrating data center products on Huaxintong, and leveraging on The vigorous development of mobile internet in China has led to the growth of new data centers to help them win the competition as soon as possible.
In addition to cooperating with Huaxintong, Amon said that Qualcomm will also focus on several major areas of opportunity, focusing on edge computing and machine learning.
Working together with Chinese partners to build a server chip ecosystem
To date, Qualcomm has invested US$52 billion in innovative technologies such as wireless communications. Qualcomm has been at the forefront of innovation in the field of wireless communications. For the past 30 years, Qualcomm has promoted people-to-people connections to become a reality. With the advent of 5G, Qualcomm Set about creating a new era of the Internet of Things.
What impressed Armon was that the influence of wireless communications was not limited to the field of communications. All walks of life were brought about by the advancement of communications technology. When various devices are connected, they can connect big data, digital economy and many intelligent connections. Equipment and other great forces are combined together. In the Digital Expo Summit, the theme of his speech is exactly how 5G and AI promote industry transformation and the expansion of data centers to edge computing.
Globally, the rapid growth of smart connected devices and the development of artificial intelligence have accelerated the expansion of data centers to include edge computing. The server technology market has bright prospects for development. China is the fastest growing and most potential market in this area. One of them. The cloud is expanding to the edge of the network. Major technology companies are competing for the first-mover advantage.
Amon said that the strategic direction of Qualcomm's core is to connect the network edge computing with cloud, cloud computing, and intelligent terminals. Especially when it comes to 5G, Qualcomm is very pleased to cooperate with Chinese partners in the field of big data. In the central area, we will focus on the entire ARM ecosystem and the most likely market areas in the industry chain to succeed.
As a server chip project aimed at developing data centers, Huaxintong has an important position in Qualcomm's business strategy. Huaxintong also clearly indicated that it will firmly develop the strategic direction of ARM server chip products and work with industry partners to promote the server chip ecosystem. System construction, the goal is to gradually shift from focusing on the Chinese market to the global market.
Amon hopes to continue to promote the cooperation between Qualcomm and China. Qualcomm will actively support the development of China's integrated circuit industry in terms of 5G and the data center market, and hopes to achieve more cooperation in the future. Xinhua