Qualcomm announced that its US$38 billion acquisition of NXP Semiconductors has approved by European Commission and KFTC (Korea Fair Trade Commission), the Reuters reported on January 19. Thus far, Qualcomm has received 8 of 9 approvals around the world and the final piece will be China’s approval. Earlier, European Union was worried about the acquisition could violate the antitrust laws and therefore initiated a review in June, 2017 following the acquisition that took place in October 2016. Regulators dropped the concerns after Qualcomm promised not to acquire essential patents of NXP relating to NFC (Near Field Communication) and committed that NXP will continue to license those patents to third parties.