Broadcom Introduces Industry's First End-to-End Chipset for Terrestrial HDTV.

Business Editors and High-Tech Writers

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 17, 2000

Broadcom (Nasdaq:BRCM):

Chipset Provides TV and Set-Top Box Makers with Technology for

Superior HDTV Reception and Display

Broadcom Corporation, the leading provider of integrated circuits enabling broadband communications, today announced the availability of the industry's first end-to-end chipset for receiving and displaying terrestrial High Definition Television (HDTV). With the introduction of this highly integrated chipset, Broadcom is enabling the transition from traditional analog TV reception to HDTV reception, providing consumers with crystal clear, digital quality video and CD quality audio.

The Broadcom chipset provides television and set-top box manufacturers with the highest performing Vestigial Side Band (VSB, the North American standard for terrestrial HDTV) receiver and a 2D/3D video-graphics subsystem for Standard Definition Television (SDTV) and HDTV displays.

This new system solution is made possible by combining the new Broadcom(R) BCM3510 HDTV/CATV (Cable TV) Receiver with Broadcom's previously announced BCM7020 Single-Chip Set-Top Box System. The BCM3510 is an integrated VSB and QAM receiver, which supports both the North American ATSC Grand Alliance broadcast television standard and North American cable TV standards.

Through extensive independent testing, Broadcom's BCM3510 has been proven to be the highest performing VSB receiver available. The BCM3510 takes performance to a new level with power consumption reduced to less than one watt, simplified ease of use and improved algorithms for handling difficult multi-path channel conditions.

Robert Graves, Chairman of the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), commented on this announcement, "The ATSC is delighted to learn of the introduction of Broadcom's second-generation, high-performance VSB receiver. When the ATSC promotes the benefits and advantages of VSB systems worldwide, we include Broadcom VSB receivers because of their superior performance in diverse terrestrial television reception environments. This latest contribution from Broadcom epitomizes the kind of innovative improvements that manufacturers are making in ATSC receivers."

"Our chipset offers television and set-top box manufacturers a complete solution for receiving and displaying terrestrial HDTV," said Rich Nelson, Broadcom's Senior Director of Marketing, Broadband Communications Business Unit. "This will allow manufacturers to introduce next-generation products, with superior reception and user features, accelerating HDTV adoption in the market. This is right in line with FCC Chairman William Kennard's vision for the widespread availability of digital television to American consumers."

In an October 10 speech, Kennard said: "Congress should direct the FCC to adopt a requirement that, by a given date -- say January 1, 2003 -- all new television sets include the capability to receive DTV (digital television) signals. In addition to accelerating DTV deployment, this order would make DTV technology much more affordable by unleashing market forces and economies of scale to drive down the cost of equipment and receiver chips in both sets and converter boxes."

BCM3510 Features

The BCM3510 is a highly integrated single-chip receiver for the ATSC standard. The receiver contains an on-chip Analog/Digital converter with automatic gain control to simplify system design. It provides the highest performance in dynamic multi-path conditions with a full implementation, 46 (mu)sec equalizer. A patented, high-performance notch filter automatically eliminates NTSC co-channel interference.

In addition to the VSB receiver, the BCM 3510 implements a fully compliant ITU J.83 Annex A, B and C QAM receiver enabling a "cable-ready" digital TV solution in a single package at no additional cost. The user interface to the BCM3510 is managed through a high-level application programming interface (API) using an on-chip micro-controller. This simplifies system software development, and reduces time-to-market for system development. The BCM3510 delivers outstanding performance and consumes less than one watt of power.

BCM7020 Features

Broadcom's BCM7020 video graphics decoder and graphics system, introduced in December 1999, provided the industry with its first 2D/3D video-graphics subsystem that supports both SDTV and HDTV standards for North America, Europe and Japan. It can decode multiple video streams simultaneously, enabling new services such as multiple camera angles and Picture-in-Picture. The BCM7020 supports all 18 ATSC North American formats. In addition, this video graphics subsystem decodes analog TV formats worldwide, for the seamless integration of digital and analog television.

BCM93510 and BCM97020 Reference Designs

To enable complete HDTV system development with the BCM3510 and BCM7020, Broadcom offers the BCM93510 and BCM97020 reference designs. This combined system is a stand-alone HDTV receiver with an ATSC-compliant tuner, the BCM3510 VSB/QAM receiver, and the BCM7020 HDTV video graphics decoder. The reference designs are delivered with complete software source code, schematics and Gerber files, providing detailed design information to manufacturers of integrated TV platforms and stand-alone HDTV decoders.

Pricing and Availability

The BCM3510 is available in sample quantities today. It is priced at $20 in 10,000 piece quantities and is packaged in a 128-pin PQFP. The BCM7020 is now available, priced at $50 in 10,000 piece quantities, and is packaged in a 420-pin TBGA.

About Broadcom

Broadcom Corporation is the leading provider of highly integrated silicon solutions that enable broadband digital transmission of voice, video, and data. Using proprietary technologies and advanced design methodologies, the company designs, develops and supplies integrated circuits for a number of the most significant broadband communications markets, including the markets for cable set-top boxes, cable modems, high-speed local, metropolitan and wide area networks, home networking, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), carrier access, residential broadband gateways, direct broadcast satellite and terrestrial digital broadcast, optical networking, digital subscriber lines (xDSL) and wireless communications. Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and may be contacted at 949-450-8700 or at www.broadcom.com.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:

This release may contain forward-looking statements based on our current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry, management's beliefs, and certain assumptions made by us. Words such as "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "may," "will" and variations of these words or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, our actual results could differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements as a result of various factors.

Important factors that may cause such a difference for Broadcom in connection with the BCM3510, BCM7020, BCM93510 and BCM97020 products include, but are not limited to, the timing and successful completion of technology and product development through volume production; the rate at which our present and future customers and end-users adopt Broadcom's technologies and products in the markets for advanced set-top box and HDTV products; delays in the adoption and acceptance of industry standards in the foregoing markets; the timing of customer-industry qualification and certification of our products and the risks of non-qualification or non-certification; the timing, rescheduling or cancellation of significant customer orders; the loss of a key customer; the volume of our product sales and pricing concessions on volume sales; silicon wafer pricing and the availability of foundry and assembly capacity and raw materials; the qualification, availability and pricing of competing products and technologies and the resulting effects on sales and pricing of our products; intellectual property disputes and customer indemnification claims; fluctuations in the manufacturing yields of our third party semiconductor foundries and other problems or delays in the fabrication, assembly, testing or delivery of our products; our ability to specify, develop or acquire, complete, introduce, market and transition to volume production new products and technologies in a timely manner; the effects of new and emerging technologies; the effectiveness of our product cost reduction efforts; the risks of producing products with new suppliers and at new fabrication and assembly facilities; problems or delays that we may face in shifting our products to smaller geometry process technologies and in achieving higher levels of design integration; the risks and uncertainties associated with our international operations; our ability to retain and hire key executives, technical personnel and other employees in the numbers, with the capabilities, and at the compensation levels needed to implement our business and product plans; changes in our product or customer mix; the quality of our products and any remediation costs; the effects of natural disasters and other events beyond our control; the level of orders received that can be shipped in a fiscal quarter; potential business disruptions, claims, expenses and other difficulties resulting from residual "Year 2000" problems in computer-based systems used by us, our suppliers or our customers; general economic conditions and specific conditions in the markets we address; and other factors.

Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, recent and forthcoming Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, recent Current Reports on Forms 8-K and 8-K/A, and other Securities and Exchange Commission filings discuss some of the important risk factors that may affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason.

Note to Editors: Broadcom(R) and the pulse logo are trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.