Broadcom’s ’PND-on-a-Chip’ Integrates Advanced, Low Power GPS Capabilities with Powerful Applications Processing for Stunning Graphical Navigation

--Unprecedented Levels of Integration and new Power Management Solution Drive Lower Costs by Eliminating Expensive External Components Required by Competitive Solutions

TAIPEI, Taiwan - Computex 2009 -- Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced a new navigation processor and power management (PMU) solution designed specifically for personal navigation devices (PNDs). The new ’PND-on-a-chip’ integrates many of the costly external components required by competitive solutions, including a global positioning system (GPS) baseband, radio frequency (RF) circuitry and low noise amplifier (LNA) as well as high powered applications and graphics processors. The ’PND-on-a-chip’ solution provides all the key components required to deliver a graphical user experience of life-like maps and engaging navigational information for next generation PNDs without the lags and blocky renderings of many current devices.

Today’s PNDs are often limited by the processing and graphics capabilities of applications processors with often sluggish map rendering and awkward user interfaces that are limited by the capabilities of the processor. In contrast, PND manufacturers can take advantage of the new ’PND-on-a-chip’s’ hardware-based graphics processing unit to create engaging 3D user interfaces while accelerating map rendering to make the user experience as rich and easy to use as possible.

Announced today is the Broadcom® BCM4760 system-on-a-chip (SoC) solution that integrates several costly external components normally required by competitive solutions. Designed in Broadcom’s 65 nanometer (nm) process, the BCM4760 also integrates an audio codec, touch screen controller and USB 2.0 controller with high speed transceiver, all on a single die. This allows PNDs based on the BCM4760 to eliminate these components, resulting in reduced system cost, power consumption and complexity.

The BCM4760 is a complete, low power SoC solution that combines a high performance GPS receiver and baseband, an ARM11™ processor, an OpenGL® ES 1.1/OpenVG™ 1.0-compliant graphics processor and advanced analog technology to deliver the most highly integrated solution ever created for the personal navigation market. The built-in applications processing is powerful enough to serve as the core processor for a full range of devices beyond the PND market, including personal media players, gaming devices and other mobile products.

“Our proven expertise in integrating complex RF, analog and digital circuits at extremely small geometries has enabled us to deliver this industry-first for the PND market,” said Scott Pomerantz, Vice President & General Manager of Broadcom’s GPS line of business. “By delivering an applications processor that integrates both the GPS baseband and radio on a single die, without any compromises in performance, Broadcom is helping drive high-end graphics performance to new classes of PND devices.”

In conjunction with today’s BCM4760 SoC announcement, Broadcom also introduces its new BCM59040 power management unit (PMU) designed for use in advanced mobile systems based on the BCM4760. This all-CMOS PMU includes advanced power management techniques, such as highly efficient DC/DC converters, high performance LDOs, a switcher regulated charger with USB and wall adapter inputs, USB OTG (on-the-go) detection and Vbus boost control -- all of which are features aligned with PND and portable media player manufacturer requirements. A new feature introduced with the BCM59040 is Broadcom’s ’charge-and-play’ technology which eliminates the need to wait for an empty battery to be charged sufficiently for the system to operate, which increases battery life by reducing charge/discharge cycles.

The BCM4760 SoC also provides integrated support for Broadcom’s other industry leading connectivity solutions including Bluetooth®, Wi-Fi® and combo chip solutions, and includes a host peripheral interface for easy integration with Broadcom’s BCM2727 low power mobile multimedia processor, built-in memory interfaces and the USB 2.0 OTG interface.

Serving the PND Market

The BCM4760 SoC enables system manufacturers to create a platform that meets the needs of the entry-level, mid-level and high-level GPS personal navigation device market segments as follows:

For the entry-level market where low cost is the primary focus, the BCM4760 provides a USB 2.0 OTG high-speed controller with integrated transceiver, a 4- or 5-wire touch controller, and audio mixer with a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) to simplify the design and help shrink the PCB footprint while keeping the total bill-of-material (BOM) cost to a minimum.

For the mid-level market, the BCM4760 provides ample processing power for the rapid display of 3D city maps and 3D landmarks. It utilizes high performance 3-processor architecture, multiple high-speed interfaces, and Broadcom’s connectivity technologies, such as Bluetooth and WLAN chipsets, can be connected directly to the BCM4760 platform. Other features, such as hands-free speakerphone, photo viewing and music playback, are also supported.

For the high-level market, the BCM4760 supports a direct connection to Broadcom’s VideoCore® family of mobile multimedia co-processors. Adding the VideoCore III co-processor for example, enables high definition (HD) video playback and recording, graphics acceleration, image signal processing (ISP), and more.

Availability and Pricing

The Broadcom BCM4760 ’PND-on-a-chip’ solution and BCM59040 PMU are now sampling to early access customers. Pricing is available upon request.

About Broadcom

Broadcom Corporation is a major technology innovator and global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications. Broadcom products enable the delivery of voice, video, data and multimedia to and throughout the home, the office and the mobile environment. We provide the industry’s broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art system-on-a-chip and software solutions to manufacturers of computing and networking equipment, digital entertainment and broadband access products, and mobile devices. These solutions support our core mission: Connecting everything®.

Broadcom is one of the world’s largest fabless semiconductor companies, with 2008 revenue of $4.66 billion, and holds over 3,300 U.S. and over 1,300 foreign patents, more than 7,500 additional pending patent applications, and one of the broadest intellectual property portfolios addressing both wired and wireless transmission of voice, video, data and multimedia.

A FORTUNE 500® company, Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and has offices and research facilities in North America, Asia and Europe. Broadcom may be contacted at +1.949.926.5000 or at www.broadcom.com.

Cautions regarding Forward Looking Statements:

All statements included or incorporated by reference in this release, other than statements or characterizations of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry and business, management’s beliefs, and certain assumptions made by us, all of which are subject to change. Forward-looking statements can often be identified by words such as “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “predicts,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “would,” “could,” “potential,” “continue,” “ongoing,” similar expressions, and variations or negatives of these words. Examples of such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the demand for advanced GPS capabilities for personal navigation products, our position in that market, and the timing of volume production for Broadcom BCM4760 SoC solutions. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause our actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statement.

Important factors that may cause such a difference for Broadcom in connection with BCM4760 ’PND-on-a-chip’ solutions include, but are not limited to

-- the rate at which our present and future customers and end-users adopt
Broadcom’s GPS technologies for mobile applications;
-- trends in the wireless networking markets in various geographic regions,
including seasonality in sales of consumer products into which our
products are incorporated, and possible disruption in commercial
activities related to terrorist activity or armed conflict in the United
States and other locations;
-- the gain or loss of a key customer, design win or order;
-- the volume of our product sales and pricing concessions on volume sales;
-- our ability to timely and accurately predict market requirements and
evolving industry standards and to identify opportunities in new
markets; and

-- competitive pressures and other factors such as the qualification,
availability and pricing of competing products and technologies and the
resulting effects on sales and pricing of our products.


Additional factors that may cause Broadcom’s actual results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to the list that can be found at http://www.broadcom.com/press/additional_risk_factors/Q22009.php.

Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, recent Current Reports on Form 8-K, and other Securities and Exchange Commission filings discuss the foregoing risks as well as other important risk factors that could contribute to such differences or otherwise affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. The forward-looking statements in this release speak only as of this date. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statement, except as required by law.

Broadcom, the pulse logo, Connecting everything, the Connecting everything logo and VideoCore are among the trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or its affiliates in the United States, certain other countries and/or the EU. Bluetooth is a trademark of Bluetooth SIG, Inc. Any other trademarks or trade names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.