Beceem

About Beceem

Beceem Communications, founded in 2003 by Shahin Hedayat, Surendra Babu Mandava, and Arogyaswami Paulraj, operated as a fabless semiconductor company specializing in chips for mobile broadband communications. The company was established as an international hybrid, with its radio-frequency engineering and senior management in Santa Clara, California, and a significant engineering division in Bangalore, India. The founders possessed deep experience in wireless technologies; Paulraj was a key figure in developing MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) technology, which became fundamental to 4G, and had previously founded Iospan Wireless (acquired by Intel). Hedayat had also co-founded Centillium Communications.

Beceem's business focused on developing and supplying system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions for the nascent 4G wireless market, specifically for the WiMAX and later, LTE standards. Its clients were manufacturers of mobile devices, including smartphones, PC notebooks, modems, and wireless gateways, who integrated Beceem's chips into their final products. The company's business model revolved around selling these semiconductor solutions, which included baseband processors, radio frequency (RF) integrated circuits, and corresponding software. Its chips were pivotal in powering early 4G networks, such as those operated by Clearwire.

The company's key offering was its portfolio of single-chip solutions designed to enable mobile WiMAX and LTE connectivity. A significant achievement was the development of the BCSM250, a single-chip WiMAX solution that combined the baseband processor, a dual-band radio, memory, and power management into an 11mm by 11mm package, reducing power consumption and increasing peak data rates to 40 Mbps. Beceem later announced the BCS500, a groundbreaking multi-mode chip that supported both WiMAX and LTE standards. This chip allowed devices to seamlessly roam between the two competing 4G networks, a critical feature for operators with diverse spectrum assets. After raising significant venture capital from investors including Intel Capital, Khosla Ventures, and Sequoia Capital, and following a cancelled IPO, Beceem Communications was acquired by Broadcom on December 1, 2010, for approximately $316 million.