Chipmaker Broadcom said yesterday that it has developed a new processor which integrates all key 3G cellular and mobile technologies onto a single chip.
The processor, which operates at extremely low powers, will enable mobile phone makers to build new 3G phones in more compact form factors with very long battery lives, the company said.
The new 3G "Phone on a Chip" supports several popular mobile technologies used throughout the world: HSUPA (High-Speed Uplink Packet Access), HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access), W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), and EDGE (enhanced data for GSM evolution).
The chip can also transmit and receive FM radio for playing music on a car stereo, as well as supporting Bluetooth technology and processing capability for a 5-megapixel camera.
Broadcom claims it is at least a year ahead of competitors, such as Texas Instruments and Qualcomm, in terms of integrating such functionality into a single chip. The company also said the chip is already available to a select group of Broadcom customers.
In 2006, Broadcom had only about 1.4 percent of the mobile phone chip market. By contrast, TI and Qualcomm each had about 20 percent, according to iSuppli.
The new chip could help boost Broadcom's market share against competitors, especially in Asia where operators are rolling out faster networks much more quickly than in other parts of the world.
Broadcom has been aggressively trying to get a greater share of the mobile market for the past few years and, as a result, has been embroiled in a series of legal fights with rival Qualcomm.
Broadcom won a significant battle earlier this year, when the US government banned Qualcomm and its partners from importing devices that use Qualcomm's 3G technology, because part of the technology has been found to infringe on patents held by Broadcom.
CNET News.com's Marguerite Reardon reported from San Francisco.
