Broadcom unveils Wi-Fi 6E chip designed to deliver 2 Gbps+ speeds with better battery life, says it will also improve Bluetooth audio performance and range
With a Wi-Fi 6E processor called BCM4389, Broadcom is aiming to take advantage of new 6 GHz spectrum coming online through multiple devices.
Context & Ripple Effects
This announcement lands at the start of the 6 GHz era: the Wi-Fi Alliance had only months earlier launched Wi-Fi Certified 6 for 802.11ax radios, and Broadcom's BCM4389 is the first merchant silicon designed to push into the newly opened 6 GHz band rather than just certify against it.
The move set the template competitors followed within months — Qualcomm announced its own Wi-Fi 6E chips that May, with router silicon shipping immediately and phone chips in the second half of 2020 — and the Alliance later formalized the band with a dedicated Wi-Fi 6E certification program.
First-order effects
- Device makers designing flagship phones and routers get a drop-in path to 2 Gbps+ wireless speeds with claimed battery-life gains, before Qualcomm's competing phone chips reach market.
Second-order effects
- Qualcomm's response — shipping Wi-Fi 6E router silicon first while phone silicon trails — forces a two-front race where router availability becomes the near-term battleground and handset integration the longer one.
Third-order effects
- With the Wi-Fi Alliance certifying 6 GHz devices as a distinct category, the band hardens into an industry standard, making 6 GHz support a baseline requirement for premium phones, laptops, and routers rather than a differentiator.
The trend: Wi-Fi silicon vendors are racing to claim the freshly opened 6 GHz band, with certification programs converting each vendor's early silicon into de facto platform requirements.