Meta Elects Hock Tan (Broadcom's CEO) and John Arnold (CoFounder Arnold Ventures) To Its Board of Directors

Meta, on Wednesday, announced that Hock E. Tan and John Arnold have been elected to the company’s board of directors, effective immediately.

Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of Meta, said, “I’m excited to share that Hock Tan and John Arnold are joining Meta’s board of directors. As we focus on building AGI, having directors with deep expertise in silicon and energy infrastructure will help us execute our long term vision.”

“I am pleased to join the Meta Board and contribute to achieving the company’s vision,” said Tan. “Meta has an incredible role to play in the next-generation of computing as it evolves its platform and apps offerings for the future. I look forward to working with Mark, the broader team and the other Board members on Meta’s technology and business journey.”

“I look forward to being a part of Meta’s board, and to contributing my insights as we work together in our collective responsibility to Meta’s users and the wider community,” said Arnold.

Hock Tan has served as Broadcom’s President & CEO and a member of the Board of Directors since March 2006. From September 2005 to January 2008, he served as chairman of the board of Integrated Device Technology. Prior to becoming chairman of IDT, Mr. Tan was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Integrated Circuit Systems from June 1999 to September 2005.

Prior to ICS, Mr. Tan was Vice President of Finance with Commodore International from 1992 to 1994, and previously held senior management positions with PepsiCo and General Motors. Mr. Tan served as managing director of Pacven Investment, a venture capital fund in Singapore, from 1988 to 1992, and served as managing director for Hume Industries in Malaysia from 1983 to 1988.

John Arnold is co-founder and co-chair of Arnold Ventures. Arnold Ventures seeks to tackle some of the most pressing problems in the United States by applying evidence-based solutions to improve outcomes in public systems, including health care, education, criminal justice, infrastructure, and public finance.

John Arnold is also the co-founder and chairman of Grid United, a developer of interregional, high-voltage transmission projects with a mission to make America’s power grid more reliable, resilient, and efficient. Mr. Arnold is founder of Centaurus Capital, a family office investment fund focused on the energy industry. Previously, Mr. Arnold served as founder and CEO of Centaurus Energy, a multi-billion-dollar energy commodity hedge fund that he founded after overseeing trading of natural gas derivatives at Enron Corp.

Meta’s current board members are: Mark Zuckerberg; Peggy Alford, former Executive Vice President, Global Sales, PayPal Holdings, Inc.; Marc L. Andreessen, Andreessen Horowitz; John Arnold, Co-Founder, Arnold Ventures; Drew Houston, Co-Founder and CEO, Dropbox, Inc.; Nancy Killefer, Retired Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company; Robert M. Kimmitt, Meta’s Lead Independent Director and Senior International Counsel at WilmerHale LLP; Sheryl K. Sandberg, former Chief Operating Officer, Meta; Hock E. Tan, President and CEO, Broadcom Inc.; Tracey T. Travis, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, The Estée Lauder Companies, Inc.; and Tony Xu, Co-Founder and CEO, DoorDash, Inc.

Intel and Broadcom Achieve Major Wi-Fi 7 Industry Milestone

On Thursday, Intel Corporation and Broadcom Inc. showcased the industry’s first cross-vendor Wi-Fi 7 demonstration, with over-the-air speeds greater than 5 gigabits per second. The trial used an Intel® Core™ processor-based laptop with a Wi-Fi 7 solution connected to a Broadcom Wi-Fi 7 access point.

This 7th generation of Wi-Fi, also referred to as IEEE 802.11be or Wi-Fi 7, is an extremely high throughput wireless network that uses 2.4Ghz, 5Ghz, and 6Ghz frequency bands. Wi-Fi 7 leverages advanced technology to maximize overall capacity, decrease latency and increase speed to every device. It is expected that Wi-Fi 7 will be certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance in the latter half of 2023

Wi-Fi 7 is the platform for the next 10 years of wireless experiences, which require higher speeds, lower latency, improved reliability, and greater capacity. Wi-Fi 7 leverages new features including wider 320 MHz channels in unlicensed 6GHz spectrum, higher order 4K QAM data modulation, simultaneous connections across multiple bands with multi-link operation, and improved channel utilization efficiency with multi-resource unit puncturing.

Wi-Fi 7’s deterministic operation enables new product classes, including augmented and virtual reality, ultra-high-definition 16K media streaming, and super-responsive and reliable gaming while supporting large numbers of connected devices in the home or office. And with Wi-Fi 7’s greatly increased speeds, broadband subscribers will get full value from their multi-gigabit internet plans.

This achievement is proof that Wi-Fi 7 has arrived, and Broadcom and Intel will continue to show the additional capabilities of Wi-Fi 7.

Carlos Cordeiro, Intel Fellow and Wireless CTO, Client Computing Group, Intel, said, "We are proud to highlight how next-generation Wi-Fi 7 can make new mobile PC experiences possible. Industry collaboration is essential to ensure we deliver on the promises of this new wireless technology. We would like to thank our colleagues at Broadcom for their great technical cooperation, which helped enable this unprecedented, first-of-its-kind demonstration of ultra-high speed and ultra-low latency Wi-Fi 7."

Vijay Nagarajan, vice president, Wireless Connectivity Division, Broadcom, said, “Today’s milestone sends a clear message: the ecosystem is ready and Wi-Fi 7 is here to deliver extraordinary capacity and blazing fast speeds to extend gigabit broadband. The reliable, low latency communication provided by Wi-Fi 7 is a key element of Broadcom's vision for connecting everything as the Internet evolves to its next iteration replete with immersive experiences. Industry collaboration is key to making this unprecedented connectivity a reality and we were delighted to work with Intel to achieve another industry first.”

Apple, Broadcom to Pay $1.1 Bn for Infringing 4 Wi-Fi Technology Patents

A Los Angeles jury has ordered Apple and Broadcom to pay USD 1.1 billion to a university in California for infringing on four Wi-Fi technology patents.

Apple was ordered to pay USD 837 million and Broadcom must pay USD 270 million to the California Institute of Technology, in what is thought to be one of the largest patent verdicts ever. The court pronounced the verdict on Wednesday.

Caltech, as the university located near Los Angeles is known, had sued both tech giants in 2016, alleging that Apple products including iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches used Broadcom components that infringed on Caltech patents related to wireless data transmissions.

Both Apple and Broadcom indicated they planned to appeal the verdict.

"Caltech appreciates the jury's thoughtful attention throughout the trial," the university said in a statement to AFP. "We are pleased the jury found that Apple and Broadcom infringed Caltech patents.

"As a nonprofit institution of higher education, Caltech is committed to protecting its intellectual property in furtherance of its mission to expand human knowledge and benefit society through research integrated with education."

In court documents, Apple and Broadcom had said that Caltech's claims "are based solely on the incorporation of allegedly infringing Broadcom chips in Apple's iPhone, Mac, and other devices."

"Broadcom manufactures the accused chips, while Apple is merely an indirect downstream party whose products incorporate the accused chips," according to court filings.

"Accordingly, the claims that Caltech has against Apple depend on establishing that the accused Broadcom chips infringe the patents and that the patents-in-suit are not invalid," it stated.

Broadcom was the main target of the lawsuit but Apple was also named as it is one of Broadcom's biggest customers. (AFP)