Broadcom agrees to pay $76 million to buy Siliquent

Fabless communications chip company Broadcom Corp. has agreed to buy Ethernet processor company Siliquent Technologies Inc. for $76 million in cash, Broadcom said Tuesday (July 19).

Siliquent (Mountain View, Calif.) has specialized in the development of 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) network interface controllers (NICs). The company has its R&D facilities in Tel Aviv, Israel.

"With 10GbE being the next frontier for enterprise networks, our acquisition of Siliquent provides technology that enables Broadcom to deliver TCP/IP offload, iSCSI and RDMA capabilities on a single-chip, 10GbE controller," said Greg Young, vice president and general manager of Broadcom's high-speed controller line of business, in a statement.

At closing of the acquisition, Broadcom expects to pay approximately $76 million in cash in exchange for all outstanding shares of capital stock and vested options of Siliquent. A portion of the consideration payable to the shareholders will be placed into escrow pursuant to the terms of the acquisition agreement.

- Peter Clarke

EE Times