After suggesting just a few days ago that it would consider a potential new Broadcom bid with even more favorable terms than the Irvine-based giant’s recent “best and final offer” for a record-breaking acquisition, Qualcomm is moving to close its own proposed NXP buyout.

The Dutch global semiconductor manufacturer specialized mainly in the automotive industry “definitively” agreed to a $110 price per share way back in October 2016. But due to unforeseen regulatory difficulties, as well as NXP’s strong 2017 financial performance, the San Diego-based designers of Snapdragon chips and modems saw the initial deal threatened.

With only one of nine required antitrust clearances still pending, and expected to come through “in the near term”, Qualcomm had little choice but to up its offer to $127.50 in cash per share.

This way, one of the transaction’s most important opposers, hedge fund sponsor Elliott Advisors Limited, was persuaded into adding its affiliated funds to a pool of NXP shares now including nine major stockholders with over 28 percent of the company’s outstanding shares.

The nine big players have all entered into binding agreements with Qualcomm River Holdings B.V., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm, and the overall amended deal lowers the minimum tender condition from 80 to 70 percent of outstanding NXP shares.

It basically sounds like a formality now to wrap up the $44 billion acquisition (up from a previously-agreed-upon price of around $38 billion), which would raise yet another obstacle in the way of Broadcom’s massive $120+ billion Qualcomm takeover.