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On
Friday, the Toronto and London-based Alphawave, which licenses
its technology to chipmakers, said it had received all
regulatory clearances, including from the powerful U.S.
Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).
The $210 million deal is expected to close next month.
The deal has drawn fire from Republican China hawks in Congress,
including the influential Rubio, who has advocated for CFIUS to
review deals related to China that he saw as posing national
security risks.
Earlier this year, he called on CFIUS to scrutinize the
Alphawave deal, citing Chinese private equity firm Wise Road
Capital's 10% stake in Alphawave and their 2021 agreement
allowing Wise Road Capital to license Alphawave technology to
increase its customer base in China.
Rubio on Monday accused President Joe Biden's administration of
"yet again" demonstrating its "total unwillingness" to take
seriously the threat of China aggressively buying and stealing
U.S. intellectual property. "American competitiveness will
suffer in the long term as a result," he warned.
The Treasury department, which heads CFIUS, OpenFive and Wise
Road Capital did not respond to requests for comment. Alphawave
declined to comment.
Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington,
said China opposes attempts to politicize or interfere
politically in mergers and acquisitions.
"Some U.S. politicians are ... accusing China of "stealing"
intellectual property rights but are short on delivering solid
evidence," Liu added.
CFIUS has taken a hard line with Wise Road Capital in the past.
In December 2021, the private equity firm and U.S. chipmaker
Magnachip Semiconductor Corp said they had terminated their $1.4
billion merger agreement after CFIUS said the deal posed "risks
to national security."
OpenFive also leases chipmaking intellectual property to
chipmakers.
(Reporting by Alexandra Alper; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and
Richard Chang)
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