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Technology Stocks : Broadcom (BRCM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brian Malloy who wrote (3222)	12/6/1999 7:47:00 AM
From: jackmore	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6531

Thread, Broadcom unveils new line of microchips IRVINE, Calif., Dec. 6 (Reuters) - Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) on Monday unveiled a new family of microchips that it said will improve the cost and reliability of new tuning devices for television sets, VCRs, set-top boxes and other equipment. The announcement comes about one week before the cable TV industry's huge Western Show taking place in Los Angeles, where cable TV equipment makers, system operators and content providers meet to discuss the state of the industry. The Broadcom chips, named BCM3400, are made through a process called Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS), which is the same low-cost method used to produce some of the same high-performance semiconductors in computers. Tim Lindenfelser, vice-president of marketing at Broadcom, said a current tuner can cost anywhere from $10 to $15. "We're going to be able to do it for half the cost," he said. The one chip can essentially do the same things as roughly 200 components in conventional tuners, Broadcom said, enabling more than one tuner to be stored in a single device. Putting two tuners in one device is important in the emerging arena for two-way communications over the TV because so much of the information is drawn from the Internet. By putting two tuners in a TV, for instance, a viewer could watch a program on one part of a screen and surf the Net on another. Adding the chip to its other lines of specialty microchips essentially completes Broadcom's group of components needed to build speedy cable modems and digital cable set-top boxes, making the company a sort of "one-stop shop" for technology to go into cable TV set-top boxes. New types of digital devices like semiconductor chips are required to usher in the highly-touted digital age of television that promises better pictures, clearer sound and two-way communication over TV sets. siliconinvestor.com