March 7 (UPI) — Broadcom announced Wednesday plans to create a $1.5 billion fund to help train American engineers with plans to make the United States a global leader in 5G.
“Broadcom is pledging to create a new $1.5 billion fund with a focus on innovation to train and educate the next generation of engineers in the U.S. This will ensure America’s lead in future wireless technology,” the company said in a statement.
The pledge comes after the U.S. Treasury asked chip-maker Qualcomm to delay a scheduled board meeting so it would review a proposed takeover by Singapore-based Broadcom.
Broadcom has been working to take over rival Qualcomm for weeks and the two companies were closing in on a deal before they disagreed on a price — prompting an attempted hostile takeover.
The U.S. Committee on Foreign Investments said Qualcomm’s position in 5G technology was good for national security and expressed concern over the Singapore-based company’s ties to foreign organizations.
Broadcom said Wednesday, however, that it would maintain research and development resources at Qualcomm and would focus spending on critical U.S. technologies.
“Broadcom has a proven track record of managing R&D for maximum impact and investing in core franchises,” the company said. “Broadcom will not only maintain the R&D resources Qualcomm devotes to 5G and innovation in future wireless standards — we will also focus R&D spend to those critical technologies that are essential to the U.S.”
The combination of Broadcom and Qualcomm would create one of the world’s largest semiconductor businesses.
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