Renowned Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn (contracted by Apple to make iPhones) just made a startling acquisition. Foxconn spent $866 million to acquire Belkin, a move that will unite brands like Linksys, famed for Internet routers, and WeMo, a smart home devices maker.
The huge deal is part of a move for Foxconn to increase its presence in the United States, where it also plans to spend at least $9 billion to build a facility in Wisconsin and rival Internet of Things (IoT) makers like Nest.
However, the deal still needs to be approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) before it becomes a reality. As Donald Trump recently blocked Broadcom’s $17 billion acquisition of Qualcomm, the Foxconn-Belkin merger may also be denied by the administration.
“The Purchaser and Qualcomm shall immediately and permanently abandon the proposed takeover. Immediately upon completion of all steps necessary to terminate the proposed takeover of Qualcomm, the Purchaser and Qualcomm shall certify in writing to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) that such termination has been effected in accordance with this order and that all steps necessary to fully and permanently abandon the proposed takeover of Qualcomm have been completed,” said the official directive about the Broadcomm-Qualcomm purchase.
National security concerns and growing suspicion when it comes to any and almost all foreign tech is nothing new in the U.S. For example, Verizon and AT&T suddenly stopped carrying Huawei phones and Kaspersky antivirus software was banned by Trump’s administration due to Russian-based vulnerability concerns. We’ll have to wait and see if the Foxcomm-Belkin merger will follow this trend.
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