Episode 48: Qualcomm - Broadcom

Ben & David cover the proposed largest tech M&A deal of all time, and in the process dive into the evolving dynamics of the industry that started everything in Silicon Valley—silicon. Just when VCs thought innovation was dead in semiconductors, a new wave of startups and large companies are redrawing the lines of competition in an industry dominated for a half-century by the “Wintel” duopoly of Intel and Microsoft.

Sponsors:

• Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra
• Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
• Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25
• Vanta: https://vanta.com/acquired 

More Acquired!

• Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
• Join the Slack
• Subscribe to ACQ2
• Merch Store!

© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC

Topics Covered Include:

• Innovation and disruption in the semiconductor industry over the past two years
•  Intel’s acquisition of Nervana
•  Graphcore and other ML-focused semiconductor startups
• CDMA and the telephone network effect
•  Qualcomm’s early cell phone handsets 
• Vertical integration + commoditization in smartphone chipsets 

The Carve Out:

• Ben: The de-watering of Niagara Falls
• David: Big Daddy’s Antiques
• Bonus: The Mystery Show