Broadcom released the second-generation Wi-Fi 7 solution

While the final standards for Wi-Fi 7 may not be fully established until early 2024, major manufacturers initiated the launch of their own Wi-Fi 7 solutions well in advance, Broadcom among them, introducing its first generation Wi-Fi 7 ecosystem product suite last year. Today, Broadcom announces the release of its second-generation Wi-Fi 7 solution, encompassing Wi-Fi routers, residential gateways, enterprise access points, and client devices.

The inaugural chip, BCM6765, is a highly optimised residential access point chip that supports a bandwidth of 320MHz. The BCM47722, the second chip, designed for enterprise access points, supports a 320MHz bandwidth, in addition to low-power Bluetooth (BLE), Zigbee, Thread, and Matter protocols, thereby fulfilling the burgeoning demand for Internet of Things (IoT) applications in the enterprise Wi-Fi market. The final chip, BCM4390, supports a low-power Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and 802.15.4 standard combination, specifically designed for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. It supports a 160MHz bandwidth, Zigbee, Thread, and Matter, serving a broad range of mobile market devices.

Broadcom’s Wi-Fi 7 ecosystem includes support for three-link Multi-Link Operation (MLO), reducing latency by 50% compared to typical dual-link implementations. It allows devices to aggregate channels and switch rapidly between them. It supports a proprietary SpeedBooster function, permitting 160MHz devices to utilise the full 320MHz access point capacity, thus doubling Wi-Fi connection speeds. Optimum spectrum allocation can be achieved using Automatic Frequency Coordination (AFC) to facilitate high-power access points and extend the 6GHz transmission range in both indoor and outdoor environments.

Broadcom indicates that it is currently offering second-generation Wi-Fi 7 chip samples to its partners and clients across mobile, enterprise, service providers, and retail sectors.