NFC Times Exclusive Insight – Qualcomm, the largest supplier of processor chips for mobile phones globally, has made a deal to integrate NFC technology from NXP Semiconductors for its reference designs for OEMs featuring its Snapdragon processors.

The agreement means Qualcomm is dropping its in-house NFC chip program, announced in 2012.

The promising Chinese mobile-payments market is believed to be among the top reasons for the deal, as Qualcomm competes for design wins for Chinese OEMs against other processor chip makers, including rival MediaTek. MediaTek, which also introduced its own NFC standalone chip, is believed to be working with NXP rivals in the embedded chip market, including Oberthur Technologies, NFC Times has learned.