In the first few weeks of the course, we talked a lot about how large international media companies dominate the field of international communications and media. This week,some dramatic but relatively unsurprising information was leaked about an expansion to one of the largest media companies. Qualcomm, an enormous, San Diego-based telecommunications company is in talks to acquire NXP, a Netherlands-based semiconductor company. This consolidation, which is really a vertical expansion for Qualcomm, is predicted to drastically change the semiconductor industry. Qualcomm primarily produces chips for computers and smartphones, could see it’s profits grow by 30 percent.

This is also an example of how power over telecommunications infrastructure is placed largely in the hands of huge Western corporations. There is not room in the telecommunications field for smaller, non-western companies to jump in on the profits. However, as companies like Qualcomm grow and start to integrate more and more basic infrastructure creation into their business model, they will also be able to grow their business in other countries that could use more communications infrastructure. One example of this is the Mobile Health Information System that Qualcomm is developing in Sub-Saharan Africa. As citizens, we must be critical consumers not only of the media but of the media companies themselves. Qualcomm’s acquisition of NXP and subsequent growth could certainly benefit other countries, but it is crucial that we keep it in check so that large Westernized companies don’t take advantage of countries with less infrastructure.