AllThingsD » Scott McGregor

Broadcom Buys NetLogic

John Paczkowski — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 14:30:44 +0000

Wireless chipmaker Broadcom has agreed to buy communications processor company NetLogic Microsystems. Price: $3.7 billion in cash, or about $50 per share — a 57 percent premium over NetLogic’s closing price on Friday.

The acquisition, which will more than double Broadcom’s addressable market in network infrastructure and extend its reach in the 4G chip space, is the company’s 47th since its founding in 1991. It’s also the fourth-largest acquisition of a U.S. chipmaker in the past five years.

“The premium is fair,” said Broadcom CEO Scott McGregor. “This acquisition expands our market into additional networking opportunities.”

Broadcom CEO on Low-cost Android Phones, Free Tablets and the Promise of Russian Satellites

Ina Fried — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 14:00:55 +0000

If the headline doesn’t make it clear, I covered a lot of ground in a chat I had here in Barcelona with Scott McGregor, CEO of chipmaker Broadcom.

For those who don’t know Broadcom, it is an Orange County, Calif.-based company that makes chips that go into all kinds of communications gear, from cable modems to cellphones to set-top boxes. It has steadily expanded its range through a steady stream of acquisitions.

Just at this week’s Mobile World Congress alone, the company announced plans for a whole range of new chips, including a processor that the company said should help Google in its goal of driving Android down into lower price points.

“The chips we’ve announced allow for Android phones to cover the gamut,” McGregor told Mobilized. While rivals such as Nvidia and Qualcomm plan ever more powerful chips for the high end of the phone and tablet markets, Broadcom is looking to crack into the Android processor market by driving down cost.

The key, he said, is that its processors, while perhaps not yet competitive at the ultra-high end of the smartphone market, integrate more functions than do rival chips. More stuff on a single chip means lower prices, and with Broadcom’s latest chip, Android devices should be able to stretch all the way down to the middle of the feature phone market.

Touring the company’s booth, McGregor pointed to a number of other interesting projects the company has going on in the wireless realm. For instance, the company is working on chips that expand the potential for location-based services by tapping more types of satellites. While GPS uses only American whirlybirds, data is also available now from Russian, Japanese and European satellites. The company is also working on technologies to improve location data inside buildings where satellites typically are of no help.

Another interesting area is in tablets. While much of the attention is on the iPad or its would-be rivals, McGregor said there is an emerging market for lower-end home units that can be given away by service providers like Comcast as another screen for users to consume content. While free tablets haven’t hit the U.S., McGregor said British Telecom and Japan’s NTT DoCoMo are among those offering such products.

CES: Broadcom Offers Chip for Cellphone HD Video Cam

Eric Savitz — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 13:15:24 +0000

Broadcom (BRCM) has developed a new chip that will allow cellphone manufacturers to offer HD video cameras in their handsets. In an interview Friday with Tech Trader Daily, Broadcom CEO Scott McGregor said the chip will be available later this year, with large volumes shipping in 2010. McGregor said one handset maker was displaying a prototype phone using the chip privately at the show, but he declined to identify the manufacturer. McGregor said the first version of the chip will produce video at 720p resolution–full HD at 1080p or 1080i will be in the next-generation chip, which he says is “not that far away.” McGregor says the chip will be able to shoot six hours of video on an average cellphone battery.

Broadcom, like many chip companies at the show, was displaying its wares in a private display area. But on Friday afternoon the spacious booth was bustling with visitors. Broadcom had some interesting technologies on display:

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