Broadcom Corporation, a global innovation leader in semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications, on Thursday launched its first family of 802.11ac (5G WiFi) chips designed for a broad range of product segments.

The company said that the new IEEE 802.11ac chips are three times faster and up to six times more power efficient than equivalent 802.11n solutions.

Broadcom’s 5G WiFi dramatically improves the wireless range in the home, allowing consumers to watch HD-quality video from more devices, in more places, simultaneously. The increased speed enables consumers to download web content from a mobile device faster and quickly synch large files, such as videos, in a fraction of the time it would take on a similar 802.11n device. Since 5G WiFi transfers the same volume of data at a much faster rate, devices enter low-power mode faster, which results in significant power consumption advantages. 

By creating more reliable whole-home coverage, Broadcom’s 5G WiFi technology overcomes the digital content and wireless device challenge. Broadcom’s family of 5G WiFi solutions includes the BCM4360, BCM4352, BCM43526 and BCM43516.

Broadcom is sampling 5G WiFi solutions to its early access partners including retail and PC OEMs, service providers and carriers, and will be demonstrating 5G WiFi capabilities at CES.

802.11ac has generated broad support across the consumer-electronics industry. Companies and partners across the ecosystem recognize that 802.11ac is the future of Wi-Fi and are committed to its development, integration and distribution.

“Wi-Fi-enabled devices will grow from less than 1 billion units in 2010 to more than 3 billion in 2015 [1]. Given the current constraints of legacy 802.11 standards and the increased speed, capacity, coverage and battery life that 802.11ac offers, this next generation of Wi-Fi is poised for rapid growth across all product segments. 802.11ac will be one of the most influential mobile and wireless technologies in the years to come”, said Mark Hung, Research Director, Wireless, Gartner Research. 

“The exponential growth of digital media and wirelessly connected devices requires faster and more reliable ways to connect anytime, anywhere. 5G WiFi solves this media explosion challenge. Broadcom’s vast footprint in consumer electronics devices uniquely positions us to lead the transition to the next generation of Wi-F”,said Michael Hurlston, Senior Vice President, Mobile & Wireless Group, Broadcom.