Why is President Trump's blocking of Broadcom purchase of rival chipmaker Qualcomm important to Fort Collins and national security? Your phone, and China.

Smartphones and wireless technologies aren't going anywhere soon, neither is China. 

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Broadcom on Zeigler Road in east Fort Collins used to be AVAGO; they manufacturer semiconductors/microchips that go into smartphones as well as other electronics. According to the Coloradoan, they have over 1,000 employees helping to keep the U.S. on the forefront of those technologies.

Broadcom LTD, the parent company (which is technically more AVAGO than Broadcom), wanted to purchase Qualcomm, a competitor in the field, in a hostile takeover. On Monday, March 12, 2018, President Trump blocked the deal.

He did so, under recommendations of the Committee on Foreign Investments in the U.S. They fear that with these two big companies becoming one, that Qualcomm will end up reducing their research and development funding. If that were to happen - a Chinese manufacturer, Huawei could take the lead in smartphone and wireless technologies; technologies such as 5G (I hardly have an understating of 4G!) where of course, [we] want the U.S. to be the leader in such technologies. In addition, being a Chinese company, Huawei isn't the most transparent of companies.

Put those two concerns together, and you get a 'Red-Light' from the Committee. At $117 Billon, this would have been the largest technology acquisition in history. Wow.

It's hard to say how jobs at Broadcom in Fort Collins would have been affected, but it is interesting to know their connection to our National security.

Get more details on the story from Bloomberg.