Broadcom to pay $594M for European DSL supplier

Broadcom Corp. has reached deep into its pockets once again, agreeing to offer $594 million in stock-based on Tuesday's closing price-to purchase Element 14 Ltd., a leading supplier of high-port density, low-power DSL chipsets and software. Broadcom, Irvine, Calif., said it also plans to create a new DSL division, which will be headed by Element 14 president and chief executive Stan Boland.

``This acquisition will position Broadcom as a leader in the ADSL market,'' said Henry T. Nicholas III, Broadcom's president and chief executive. ``Together our combined product lines will offer [a comprehensive] portfolio for copper twisted-pair broadband delivery.Broadcom is already the market leader in VDSL and cable modems, and we are now positioned to provide every means of delivering broadband access to the home and business. Additionally, Element 14's world class DSP technology can be leveraged across all our business units.''

Founded in 1999, Element 14 is a privately held, fabless semiconductor company headquartered in Cambridge, England, with additional design centers in Bristol, England, and Mechelen, Belgium. Element 14 has a team of 68 people focused on DSL system, mixed-signal and DSP designs for communications applications. The company has been granted or has filed applications for 19 patents. Element 14 is also developing a 12-port, full-rate ADSL solution for central office applications.

In a separate announcement, Broadcom said today it had completed its acquisition of NewPort Communications Inc., also based in Irvine, a supplier of transceivers, framers, communications processors, and high-speed serial interface devices. The stock swap deal is valued at $1.23 billion.