Communications
Chip maker and
Apple Supplier Broadcom is planning to phase out its
Wi-Fi Chip Business in order to streamline its workforce and product line, according to industry sources in Taiwan (via
DigiTimes).
The move follows the company's recent acquisition by Avago Tech**logies and forms part of a larger strategy to allocate more resources for research and development in the fiber-optic and server sectors, according to the report.
The
Wi-Fi Chip Business is said to yield relatively low gross margins for
Broadcom compared to other product lines. Sources cited fierce price wars for mass-market applications such as **tebooks, tablets, TVs and smartphones as the reason behind the decision to phase out the company's involvement in the sector.
Broadcom has
Reportedly almost halved the workforce stationed at its plant in Taipei, while companies such as MediaTek, Realtek Semiconductor and RDA Microelectronics have already received a pull-in of short lead-time orders from Broadcom's customers in the
Wi-Fi Chip sector.
It's unclear whether the phase out, if confirmed, is a disruption for
Apple as it gears up for annual product refreshes across its desktop and mobile devices.
Apple currently uses
Broadcom chips in its
Apple Watch, iPhones and iPads, as well as its line of Macs that support 802.11ac, including the MacBook Air, Retina MacBook Pro, and iMac.
Two years ago,
Apple hired two high-level baseband hardware engineers who left their longtime positions at
Broadcom to join an engineering team at Cuperti**. In 2013,
Apple acquired low-power wireless
Chip provider Passif Semiconductor. The acquisitions were seen as part of a larger strategy by the company to better control the development and production of its core tech**logies.
Tag:
digitimes.com
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