Shares of Irvine’s Broadcom Corp. rose after the company on Monday announced the release of a cell phone chip that was the subject of a technology race among the chipmaker’s biggest competitors.
The stock rose 4% on Monday on a market value of about $23 billion.
Broadcom developed what’s known as a “high-speed packet access” chip for the newest generation of cell phones and wireless networks.
This is the first time a chipmaker has combined a handful of radio frequency technologies on one chip, according to Broadcom.
Broadcom’s “phone on a chip” features a baseband,the cell phone’s “brain”,and a radio receiver, FM radio and Bluetooth wireless networking.
Such features allow cell phone users to surf the Web and download and send photos, music files, games and videos much faster than before, according to Broadcom.
The company maintains that the chip’s relatively low price will promote widespread adoption of third-generation cell phones.
Industry watchers say the chip is likely to give Broadcom a leg up on its biggest rivals, including San Diego-based Qualcomm Inc., Germany’s Infineon Technologies AG and Dallas-based Texas Instruments Inc.
“With what we believe is more than a full year’s lead over similar competing products, this new (third-generation) solution should place Broadcom squarely at the head of the hyper-competitive 3G chip race,” said Yossi Cohen, general manager of Broadcom’s mobile platforms group.
