Broadcom sees big chip demand from digital devices

BANGALORE (Reuters) - US chip maker Broadcom Corp expects demand for chips used in portable video players to surge on the back of rising global sales of digital devices, its chief executive Scott McGregor said on Thursday.

"We see portable video as a fast growing market," McGregor told reporters in Bangalore, India's silicon hub, where his company has a technology centre.

"I think it is very big because you will see multimedia going to cellphones. But it is too soon to have market data on it."

He said Broadcom was working with leading companies in this space that include Apple Computer and Samsung Electronics.

California-based Broadcom specialises in combining several features on a single chip to help make products like television set-top boxes, mobile phones and broadband devices. The firm designs microchips, but outsources their production to companies such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing.

Officials said Broadcom was in preliminary talks with SemIndia, a public-private partnership involving chip maker Advanced Micro Devices, to outsource manufacturing from a proposed US$3 billion chip making facility in India announced on Wednesday.

McGregor said Broadcom, which has US$2 billion in cash, was also eyeing Indian companies for possible acquisitions in the high technology semiconductor research niche.