Qualcomm Inc. raised its offer for NXP Semiconductors NV and cut a deal with investors who had been threatening to hold up the transaction -- prompting a sharp response from its own hostile suitor Broadcom Ltd.

Qualcomm’s sweetened offer of $127.50 a share -- 16 percent more than the previous price -- was enough to secure support from holders, including activist Elliott Management Corp., of about 28 percent of NXP’s stock. It removes the opposition of a crucial block of shareholders who have piled into the stock demanding a higher price.

But Broadcom has long said its $121 billion bid for Qualcomm is contingent on the NXP deal going through at the originally agreed price. On Tuesday Broadcom said the revised offer for NXP to an equity value of about $43 billion is well beyond what Qualcomm has repeatedly characterized as a “full and fair” price.

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