00:00 Speaker A
If the name Broadcom doesn’t ring a bell, there’s a good chance you’re not alone. But let’s bring everyone up to speed. You may not own any Broadcom branded products, but there’s a good chance that something you use every day, your phone, laptop, or home Wi-Fi runs on Broadcom technology. Broadcom’s roots trace all the way back to 1961 when Hewlett Packard launched a semiconductor division, a group that would help pioneer things like LED lighting, fiber optic transmitters that speed up data transfers, and most importantly, the computer chips that power modern tech. But the company we know now as Broadcom didn’t officially start until 1991 when a UCLA professor and a student founded Broadcom Corporation. Their chips focused on one big thing, faster communications. Think high-speed internet, data transfers, and getting broadband into homes through cable TV. Fast forward to 2016, a company called Avago Technologies, which had acquired Hewlett Packard’s chip business, bought Broadcom. Then they took Broadcom’s name. And that’s why Broadcom’s stock ticker is AVGO. Today, Broadcom is a global technology firm that makes chips that power things like your Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 5G, and smartphones. Who are some of their biggest customers? Names you likely know very well. Apple, Alphabet, Meta, and Amazon. Apple alone accounts for 15% of Broadcom’s revenue. And Broadcom’s competitors also include names that you may recognize, Qualcomm, Intel, AMD, and Nvidia. And while Broadcom might not be as widely known as Nvidia, it’s not a small player. The company is worth more than $1 trillion, and 90% of Wall Street analysts have a buy rating on the stock, meaning they’re recommending it as an investment.
