Qualcomm Inc. has made a $4.6 billion offer to buy auto-technology company Veoneer Inc., moving to outbid Magna International Inc. as the semiconductor company's new chief seeks to expand beyond the core mobile-phone chip business. Chips have become ever more central to modern cars, with roles in everything from automated driving to the electronics that adjust seat position. More recently, driver-assistance features that use computers to help control speed and steering have found their way into a larger share of auto makers' product lineups. Qualcomm said Thursday it bid $37 a share for Veoneer. The offer comes two weeks after the Swedish company agreed to be acquired by Magna International, a Canadian auto-parts supplier, in an all-cash deal.

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.