Alphawave agrees £1.8bn takeover by America’s Qualcomm

But Qualcomm has also put forward an alternative share offer to Alphawave investors, which would see them receive Qualcomm stock instead of cash.

The £1.8 billion price is less than half the £3.1 billion value at which Toronto-headquartered Alphawave floated when it listed just over four years ago.

It also sees the London market lose yet another listing after a recent flurry of firms defecting from the City for rival exchanges overseas and a number of firms being bought out.

Tony Pialis, president and chief executive of Alphawave, said: “Qualcomm’s acquisition of Alphawave represents a significant milestone for us and an opportunity for our business to join forces with a respected industry leader and drive value to our customers.

“Together, we will unlock new opportunities for growth, drive innovation, and create a leading player in artificial intelligence (AI) compute and connectivity solutions.”

For Qualcomm, the acquisition is seen boosting its capabilities in AI infrastructure by expanding its intellectual property portfolio in data centre and 5G networking.

As well as data centres, Alphawave technology is used in 5G infrastructure and autonomous vehicles.