Broadcom shares rise after patent dispute victory

Shares of Broadcom Corp. rose with the broader semiconductor sector Monday after the communications chip company claimed a win in a patent dispute filed by SiRF Technology Holdings Inc.

On Friday, Broadcom said the U.S. International Trade Commission found that Global Locate, a company Broadcom purchased last year, did not violate two of SiRF's patents. Additionally, the ITC found that the asserted claims of one of SiRF's patents were invalid, Broadcom said.

Thomas Weisel Partners analyst Heidi T. Poon noted that Broadcom would have faced import restrictions on disputed products if it lost the dispute.

In other developments, a Goldman Sachs analyst said that following a recent visit to Asia, Broadcom appears to be benefiting from strong demand.

"Checks for Broadcom continue to be very strong, with particularly healthy trends in Bluetooth, GPS, DSL and SMB networking," Goldman Sachs analyst James Covello wrote in a Sunday note to clients following a recent visit to Asia.

Shares of Broadcom rose 91 cents, or 3.5 percent, to $26.70 in midday trading, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index added 1.6 percent to 400.06.