Prominent Apple supplier and component maker Broadcom is considering an acquisition of fellow chipmaker Qualcomm for more than $100 billion, in what would be the largest-ever acquisition in the chip business. The news, reported by Bloomberg today, would value Qualcomm shares at around $70, and investors immediately responded enthusiastically by sending Qualcomm stock up nearly 14 percent in what Bloomberg says is the largest stock movement for the company in nearly a decade.
Why are stockholders happy? Well, Qualcomm happens to be in the middle of an ongoing existential crisis perpetuated by a legal showdown with Apple, which has long been a Qualcomm buyer for wireless modems that enable the iPhone to communicate with telecom networks....
