Broadcom CEO Scott McGregor spoke with RCR Wireless News during the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas about Broadcom’s Wi-Fi initiatives. While this was clearly one of the event’s top stories, McGregor’s comments about hiring and investing caught our attention as well.
“Last year we hired more than 1,000 employees and more than 1,000 the year before,” said McGregor. “In 2012, we will invest over $2 billion in research and development.”
In light of Friday’s announcement by Huawei and ZTE that they will award $11 billion worth of contracts to Qualcomm (QCOM), Broadcom (BRCM) and Avago (AVGO), Broadcom may very well be increasing its hiring plans.
After CES, we followed up with Terri Timberman, EVP of human resources for Broadcom and learned the following:
- Broadcom’s employment has increased 49% from 6,300 in 2007 to 10,000 employees in 2011.
- More than 500 positions are open today including over 225 jobs in the United States.
- Broadcom has made more than 50 acquisitions, including LTE chip manufacturer Beceem.
- Twenty percent of new recruits have referral sources associated with them.
- Broadcom’s IP portfolio strength was ranked No. 1 by IEEE amongst fabless semiconductor companies.
“Employees know to come to Broadcom because of our culture for technology, innovation and creativity.” said Timberman. “Broadcom offers great jobs which allow people to pay taxes, buy homes and send kids to college.” Average salaries for Silicon Valley engineers recently surpassed $100,000 per year, according to Dice.com, and may see another bump thanks to a new wave of hiring.
Timberman also said that recruiting in today’s environment requires new strategies.
“More discriminating active and passive candidates require Broadcom to keep our value proposition in front of prospective candidates globally using LinkedIn, specialty websites, diversity sites, colleges and universities while increasing our Web presence on Facebook and Twitter,” Timberman said. “In addition to competitive compensation, benefits and for most jobs, and equity, Broadcom offers the rotation opportunities in other countries and departments along with the ability to attend technical conferences and in-house seminars.”
Per Gartner, Broadcom has outperformed the market by more than 50% since 2007. With $7.3 billion in annual revenue, three strategically placed business units (hand, home and infrastructure), and 67 design centers worldwide, Broadcom is providing a much-needed spark for a struggling global economy.
