Broadcom buys Newport to strengthen fibre nets

NEWS Broadcom, the US-based manufacturer of optical networking, plans to acquire fibre optic specialists, NewPort Communications, for $1.24bn. NewPort specialises in developing integrated circuits, which boost the bandwidth capacity of optical fibre networks Broadcom CEO, Henry Nicholas, said NewPort would provide the communications interface for high-speed fibre-optic internet technology. The deal, which will be an all-stock transaction, follows Broadcom's acquisition of Silicon Spice - a fibre-optic software company - for $1.2bn last week. Broadcom has made 11 other all-stock acquisitions this year. Its market capitalisation jumped almost four per cent to over $50bn, on hearing the news.