Broadcom and Foxlink Collaborate to Establish Lower Price Points for Bluetooth(R) Mouse Products

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- 2010 International CES - Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced a new wireless mouse design from Foxlink that is based on its Bluetooth® HID (human interface device) technology, and will significantly reduce the cost of wireless mice (and many Bluetooth peripherals) in the future. The new Foxlink mouse design is based on the Broadcom® BCM2042 HID system-on-a-chip (SoC) solution, which integrates Bluetooth and most of the major components needed for mouse and keyboard devices, resulting in a low bill-of-materials (BOM) cost for these end devices. At these new price points, PC makers will be able to competitively ship Bluetooth mouse products standard with netbooks and notebooks.

Highlights/Key Facts:

• New mobile computing products, such as netbooks and notebooks, are increasingly characterized by shrinking form factors to accommodate consumers' growing desire for portability. Consequently, external user interface devices, such as mice and keyboards, are becoming more important to allow comfortable use of these smaller products.
• Wireless mice based on the Bluetooth standard offer significant advantages for these applications, eliminating inconvenient wires and taking advantage of the Bluetooth connectivity already present in many new notebook and netbook products.
  • According to analyst firm ABI Research, the market for notebooks shipping with Bluetooth will exceed 266 million units by 2013.
• The new mouse design from Foxlink (with support from industrial design house Ashcraft), based on Broadcom technology, allows OEMs to assemble a Bluetooth mouse for about half the cost of existing designs, putting them in a position to offer branded wireless devices as standard accessories with their netbook products.
• The design also includes Broadcom's Easy Connect software, which simplifies the pairing process and provides Bluetooth users with one of the industry's easiest one-click pairing and setup processes.
• The second generation Broadcom BCM2042 Bluetooth keyboard and mouse SoC solution enables a significant increase in battery life and cost savings for Bluetooth wireless keyboards and mice, and is a practical option for an expanded range of PC users. It includes the following key features:
  • Provides direct interface to a keyboard key scan matrix, optical mouse logic and an on-board boost regulator to operate a mouse LED. Manufacturers only need to add an external crystal and a few passive components to produce a complete product.
  • Integrates Broadcom's unique ultra-low power mode that allows the chip to consume only 10 micro amps of current, representing the lowest power consumption in the industry for this class of chips, while still performing immediate 'wake up' when prompted.
    • With the BCM2042, a wireless mouse can typically operate for up to 12 months powered by just two AA batteries when coupled with next generation sensor technology.
  • Integrates a baseband processor and high performance 2.4 GHz radio and includes built-in firmware compliant with the Bluetooth Human Interface Device (HID) profile, providing overall Bluetooth system performance that far exceeds industry requirements.
• Broadcom is demonstrating the new Foxlink design at this week's 2010 International CES.

Supporting Quotes:

James Lee, President, Foxlink Communication & System Business Group

"We continue to optimize our design and manufacturing processes to help bring down costs for innovative, high quality peripherals and HID devices. Broadcom Bluetooth technology provides significant advantages in terms of reliability, BOM costs, and battery life, paving the way for broader adoption of Bluetooth for innovative peripherals."

Tom Ramsthaler, Director of Marketing, Broadcom's Wireless Personal Area Networking line of business

"As notebook and netbook computers get smaller and the attach rates of Bluetooth grow in these devices, consumers will increasingly benefit from the convenience of wireless peripherals such as mice and keyboards. This new wireless mouse design from Foxlink, Ashcraft and Broadcom helps significantly lower the cost of the Bluetooth mouse to compete with 2.4GHz RF mice that require additional hardware in the form of a USB dongle. PC OEMs can now deliver these benefits to their customers as a standard accessory for their new consumer products."

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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 3,650 U.S. and over 1,450 foreign patents, more than 7,750 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 cost effective Bluetooth keyboards and mice products and our position in that market. 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 lower price points for Bluetooth peripherals based on the Broadcom BCM2042, but are not limited to:

• the rate at which our present and future customers and end-users adopt Broadcom's Bluetooth technologies for wireless headset applications;
• trends in the wireless networking markets in various geographic regions, including seasonality in sales of consumer products into which our products are incorporated;
• 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/Q42009.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, and the Connecting everything logo are among the trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or its affiliates in the United States, certain other countries and/or the EU. Any other trademarks or trade names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

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    Henry Rael                    T. Peter Andrew
    Public Relations Manager      Vice President, Corporate Communications
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SOURCE Broadcom Corporation; BRCM Mobile & Wireless