SMART CARS DRIVE 2ND BIGGEST TECH DEAL IN HISTORY
The second-biggest tech deal in history just happened -- and it's largely thanks to the booming smart car market. Qualcomm (QCOM, Tech30) nabbed fellow chip maker NXP Semiconductors (NXPI) on Thursday in a mega deal worth $39 billion. The only tech acquisition bigger than this was Dell's takeover of EMC last year, according to Dealogic. NXP is the leading player in the fast-growing automotive computer chip market. It sells technology used for increasingly-popular advanced driver assistance systems, such as ones for radar and cameras. It also provides chips and software for infotainment in cars like audio systems and HD displays.