Why would less competition and more market concentration be good for the US semiconductor industry?
It's not like Qualcomm has been the most innovative company ever, they make ARM/Cortex based chips (which is almost a commodity) and control the baseband/modem market because of their patents, so unlike Intel the have basically no competition.
The thought is that if there is an acquisition it might lead to more silicon volume running through Intel’s US based fabs. Of course, Qualcomm might decide to shut the fabs down but that is a whole other story.
That was a much smaller deal though. A Chinese regulatory block for a $5B acquisition might rise to "not worth it" to Intel. Saying "No more x86 laptops or qualcomm radios in China" is more of a "Trade War!" kind of thing.
That's not saying the China would love it, or that they wouldn't have leverage. But regulatory power has its limits and it's not like every nation gets a veto on every merger.
It's not like Qualcomm has been the most innovative company ever, they make ARM/Cortex based chips (which is almost a commodity) and control the baseband/modem market because of their patents, so unlike Intel the have basically no competition.