The $39bn acquisition of Dutch chip company NXP is central to Qualcomm’s strategy to expand its Internet of Things and connected car activities, getting to scale more quickly than it could through inhouse developments alone, even with its renowned engineering teams. But it may face obstacles in the European Union, according to Reuters reports. Although the US Department of Justice has cleared the deal without conditions, the next stage is a preliminary review by the EU competition authority, which should conclude on Friday. The EU could approve the deal with or without conditions, but clearly it will take a keen interest, given that NXP is one of the major chipmakers that rose out of former European industrial giants (NXP was…