Broadcom Corp

Broadcom Corp.'s stock rose 14% Wednesday, a day after the Irvine maker of cable-modem chips said first-quarter profit more than doubled, beating analysts' estimates. The shares closed at $73.13, up $8.75 in Nasdaq trading. The company benefited from strong demand for its data-networking and digital-television set-top-box chips. The company's net income was 19 cents a share, beating the 14-cent average estimate of analysts polled by First Call. A year earlier, Broadcom earned 9 cents a share.

Broadcom Corp., an Irvine-based semiconductor maker, agreed to buy closely held LVL7 Systems Inc. for about $62 million in cash to add networking software designed for smaller businesses. Adding Morrisville, N.C.-based LVL7's software to its components will help boost sales to makers of switches and wireless networks, Broadcom said. In an effort to tap into the market for integrated networks that let mobile phones, personal computers and televisions communicate, Broadcom is widening its focus.

Broadcom Corp., the Irvine maker of chips for phones and consumer electronics, reduced its fourth-quarter sales forecast to $1.05 billion to $1.1 billion, down from a previous projection of $1.17 billion to $1.24 billion. The company, one of a number of chip makers to restate projections for the current quarter, said the recession is crimping demand for electronics, forcing customers to cancel or delay orders. Before the revision was announced, shares had gained 52 cents to close at $15.46.

Agere Systems Inc. and rival communications chip maker Broadcom Corp. traded patent-infringement lawsuits accusing each other of stealing technology without paying for it. Agere says Broadcom is impermissibly using its inventions related to modems, circuitry and wireless local area networks. Broadcom claims Agere is the one that's using technology for semiconductors without permission. Irvine-based Broadcom says Allentown, Pa.

Broadcom Corp. said it had agreed to acquire Alphamosaic Ltd., a privately held British maker of multimedia processors used in mobile devices, for about $123 million in cash and stock. Under the agreement, the Irvine-based semiconductor company would give Cambridge-based Alphamosaic about 4.17 million shares of Broadcom common stock, worth about $120.3 million based on Friday's closing price of $28.86 on Nasdaq. Broadcom also would give Alphamosaic about $2.7 million in cash.

Irvine chip developer Broadcom Corp. said Thursday it has completed the acquisitions of BlueSteel Networks Inc. and Digital Furnace Corp. by swapping more than 1.34 million shares for the two companies. Based on Thursday's closing price for Broadcom stock, the value of both deals combined was $276.8 million. Broadcom gained 13 cents to end the day at $206.13 a share. BlueSteel Networks in Mountain View develops high-performance Internet security processors.

Broadcom Corp., the leading maker of semiconductors for cable modems, unveiled a chip that lets computer-networking equipment process video, voice and Internet data more efficiently at a lower cost. Broadcom said its StrataSwitch chip, costing about $100, performs functions of chip sets costing $500 to $1,000. It would be used in switches that receive information from computers in a network and transmit it to other computers or switches.

Broadcom Corp., the largest maker of semiconductors for cable modems, said Monday it has developed a chip that triples the speed of sending voice and Internet content over cable-television lines. Broadcom also has developed a semiconductor that more than doubles the speed of receiving data, the Irvine company said. The chips will be used in the equipment that enables data to travel over cable networks.

The U.S. International Trade Commission has barred the U.S. sale of certain communications chip products designed by a Broadcom Corp. subsidiary that infringe two Intel Corp. chip packaging patents. The chips and products that infringe the Intel patents, designed by Irvine-based Broadcom subsidiary Altima Communications Inc., are made overseas.

Microchip maker Broadcom Corp. said fourth-quarter profit climbed to $71.1 million after sales rose for the 11th straight period. Net income increased to 20 cents a share from $6.08 million, or 2 cents a share, a year earlier, the Irvine-based company said. Sales rose 13% to $539.4 million. Alan "Lanny" Ross, in his final quarter as chief executive, managed to weather a glut of chips in the satellite industry and report Broadcom's highest profit ever by expanding into wireless products.