CADE clears joint venture among Infineon, Nordic, NXP, Bosch, and Qualcomm

The Office of the Superintendent General of CADE (SG/CADE) cleared joint venture greenfield among Infineon, Nordic, NXP, Bosch, and Qualcomm. The aim of the arrangement is to create, develop, use, license, and sell microchip architectures, including deployment of central and non-central hardware blocks, and other intellectual properties and software tools based on RISC-V technology.

Infineon, Nordic, and NXP are European companies that operate in developing, manufacturing or sailing semiconductors.  Bosch, along with its subsidiaries, operates around the globe as a supplier of heating technology, security technology, energy and construction technology, control and drive technology, and tools for the automotive and home appliance industries.  Qualcomm operates in the development and sale of wireless technology, including 3G, 4G, 5G, and central processing unit technology.

According to the petitioners, the joint venture—a German limited-liability company under the German law—is not to create, develop, use, license, or sell microchips or semiconductors specifically.

In its opinion, the SG/CADE estimates that the joint participation of the applicants' market share in the vertically integrated market is under 30%. Therefore, the transaction is not to harm the Brazilian competitive environment.

The decision of the Office of the Superintendent General is regarded final, and the deal fully approved, if the authority's Tribunal does not request the case for adjudication or a third party does not appeal to the ruling within 15 days of its announcement.

Access Case nº. 08700.006699/2023-31