Irvine-based Broadcom Corp. is exiting the baseband chip business, a segment dominated by San Diego rival Qualcomm Corp.
It said it would seek “strategic alternatives” that include a potential sale or wind-down of its cellular baseband business. Baseband chips are essentially the technical brains of mobile phones.
Broadcom has hired investment bank J.P. Morgan to explore alternatives for its baseband chip business, which accounts for a small portion of its $8.3 billion in annual revenue.
The move is expected to save the company about $600 million annually in research and development and general and administrative costs, excluding potential impairment or restructuring costs.
Broadcom said it would reinvest about $50 million of the savings in projects in its broadband, infrastructure and connectivity lines of businesses.
―Chris Casacchia
