Broadcom's $130bn Qualcomm bid is a bold play to own AI

The biggest acquisition in the history of technology has been tabled. Broadcom, which itself was purchased by Singapore's Avago Technologies in 2016, has made a $130 billion bid for rival chipmaker Qualcomm. If it goes through (and that's a big if), Broadcom would be paying 20 times the amount Candy Crush-maker King was purchased for, or more than 130 times the amount it cost Facebook to buy Instagram. It could even get the equivalent of five LinkedIns for the price. The proposed deal is so big it's nearly double the biggest tech buyout of all time, Dell's $67bn buyout of EMC in 2015. Broadcom's purchase of Qualcomm would make the company dominant in the chipmaking industry.