Chipmaker Broadcom on Monday announced an unsolicited bid to buy rival Qualcomm for $103 million (€89 million) as it looked to boost its presence in the wireless market.

Qualcomm is an early pioneer in mobile phone chips and supplies so-called modem chips to Apple, Samsung and LG that help devices connect to wireless data networks.

The bid for Qualcomm is an ambitious move by Broadcom CEO Hock Tan, who turned a small, scrappy chipmaker into a $100-billion company based in Singapore and the United States. He's pulled off a string of important purchases in the past 10 years.

No foregone conclusion

Qualcomm said it would review the proposal and act in the interests of its shareholder. The takeover offer set the stage for what could be one of the biggest merger battles in the sector ever.

A tie-up would combine the two largest makers of wireless communications chips for mobile phones and raise the stake for Intel, which has been diversifying into smartphone technology from its stronghold in computers.

Qualcomm, however, looks inclined to reject the bid as too low and fraught with risk that regulators would turn the deal down or take too long to approve it.

hg/jd (Reuters, dpa)