Chip giant reaches agreements with three Chinese smartphone vendors

Qualcomm Inc on Thursday signed non-binding deals worth about $12 billion with three of China's largest smartphone vendors as the United States chip giant beefed up efforts to strengthen ties with Chinese players amid ongoing patent disputes with Apple Inc.

Under the memorandums of understanding, Xiaomi Corp, Oppo Electronics Corp and Vivo Mobile Communication Technology said they plan to buy smartphone components, mostly chips, worth at least $12 billion from Qualcomm over the next three years.