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IRVINE, Calif., Feb 11, 2004 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a leading provider of integrated circuits enabling broadband communications, today announced that it has acquired a portfolio of storage technology patents from Cirrus Logic, Inc.
Broadcom acquired United States and foreign patents and patent applications from a larger portfolio held by Cirrus Logic that covers many fundamental innovations in the magnetic and optical storage areas, including read channel and hard disk controller technologies.
"As a worldwide leader in broadband communications ICs, Broadcom has invested heavily in developing an extensive intellectual property portfolio to protect our state-of-the-art, industry-leading products," said Alan "Lanny" Ross, President and CEO of Broadcom. "We remain focused on continuing to expand the size and breadth of our patent portfolio, both organically and through acquisition, and are always interested in opportunities of this kind."
Broadcom's patent portfolio currently consists of nearly 500 issued U.S. patents and over 2200 pending U.S. patent applications plus foreign patents and applications. It addresses almost every major broadband communications market.
In connection with the acquisition, Broadcom paid Cirrus Logic the sum of $18 million in cash. No further payments are due under the patent purchase agreement.
About Broadcom
Broadcom Corporation is a leading provider of highly integrated silicon solutions that enable broadband communications and networking of voice, video and data services. Using proprietary technologies and advanced design methodologies, Broadcom designs, develops and supplies complete system-on-a- chip solutions and related hardware and software applications for every major broadband communications market. Our diverse product portfolio includes solutions for digital cable and satellite set-top boxes; cable and DSL modems and residential gateways; high-speed transmission and switching for local, metropolitan, wide area and storage networking; home and wireless networking; cellular and terrestrial wireless communications; Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) gateway and telephony systems; broadband network processors; and SystemI/O™ server solutions. These technologies and products support our core mission: Connecting everything®.
Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and may be contacted at 1-949-450-8700 or at www.broadcom.com .
Safe Harbor Statement of Broadcom Corporation under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:
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, 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," similar expressions, and variations or negatives of these words. 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 the acquisition of patents from Cirrus Logic include, but are not limited to, the risks inherent in acquisitions of technologies, including potential intellectual property issues, accounting treatment and charges, and the risks that the anticipated benefits of the acquisition are not realized; general economic and political conditions and specific conditions in the markets we address, including the volatility in the technology sector and semiconductor industry, trends in the broadband communications markets in various geographic regions, and possible disruption in commercial activities related to terrorist activity or armed conflict in the United States and other locations; intellectual property disputes and customer indemnification claims and other types of litigation risk; our ability to scale our operations in response to increases in demand for our products and services; the availability and pricing of third party semiconductor foundry and assembly capacity and raw materials; the timing, rescheduling or cancellation of significant customer orders and our ability, as well as the availability of our customers, to manage inventory; the rate at which our present and future customers and end-users adopt Broadcom's technologies and products in the markets for storage technology applications; delays in the adoption and acceptance of industry standards in those markets; 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; our ability to retain and hire key executives, technical personnel and other employees in the numbers, with the capabilities, and at the compensation levels needed to implement our business and product plans; fluctuations in the manufacturing yields of our third party semiconductor foundries and other problems or delays in the fabrication, assembly, testing or delivery of our products; the risks of producing products with new suppliers and at new fabrication and assembly facilities; the loss of a key customer; our ability to specify, develop or acquire, complete, introduce, market and transition to volume production new products and technologies in a timely manner; the timing of customer-industry qualification and certification of our products and the risks of non-qualification or non-certification; the volume of our product sales and pricing concessions on volume sales; the effects of new and emerging technologies; changes in our product or customer mix; problems or delays that we may face in shifting our products to smaller geometry process technologies and in achieving higher levels of design integration; the quality of our products and any remediation costs; the effectiveness of our expense and product cost control and reduction efforts; the risks and uncertainties associated with our international operations, particularly in light of recent events; the effects of natural disasters, public health emergencies, international conflicts and other events beyond our control; the level of orders received that can be shipped in a fiscal quarter; and other factors.
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 for any reason.
Broadcom®, the pulse logo, Connecting everything® and SystemI/O™ are trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or its affiliates in the United
States and certain other countries. All other trademarks or trade names are the property of their respective owners.
Broadcom Press Contacts
Bill Blanning or Laura Brandlin
Corporate Communications Department
949-585-5555 or 949-585-5734
blanning@broadcom.com or
lbrandlin@broadcom.com
Broadcom Financial Analyst Contact
T. Peter Andrew
Sr. Director, Investor Relations
949-926-5663
pandrew@broadcom.com
SOURCE Broadcom Corporation
Broadcom Press, Bill Blanning, +1-949-585-5555, blanning@broadcom.com, or Laura Brandlin, +1-949-585-5734, lbrandlin@broadcom.com, both of Corporate Communications Department, or Broadcom Financial Analyst, T. Peter Andrew Sr. Director, Investor Relations, +1-949-926-5663, pandrew@broadcom.com, both of Broadcom Corporation
http://www.broadcom.com
