Broadcom is headquartered in San Jose but manufactures its networking ASICs, WiFi SoCs, and storage controllers at TSMC in Taiwan. Fiber optic components and optocouplers are assembled in Malaysia and Singapore. Taiwan-origin Broadcom ICs face only the 10% Section 122 surcharge.
Broadcom is headquartered in United States, but most components are manufactured in Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore. For US customs purposes, the COO is where the component is manufactured — not where the company is based. Declaring United States as COO when parts ship from Taiwan is a customs violation.
| Country | Sec 122 | Sec 301 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taiwan | 10% | — | 10% |
| Malaysia | 10% | — | 10% |
| Singapore | 10% | — | 10% |
* Section 301 rates shown for electronics HTS chapters (8541–8542). Rates vary by product.
| HTS Code | Description |
|---|---|
| 8542.31.0000 | Networking ASICs (BCM56xx Trident, BCM77xx) |
| 8542.39.0000 | WiFi/BT SoCs (BCM4xxx), storage controllers |
| 8541.40.9500 | Optocouplers (ACPL series), fiber transceivers |
Broadcom Inc. (formerly Avago Technologies, merged with LSI and Brocade) is a fabless semiconductor company headquartered in San Jose, California. All major semiconductor products — networking ASICs (Trident, Tomahawk series), WiFi and Bluetooth SoCs (BCM43xx/BCM4xxx), storage controllers (SAS/SATA HBA), PCIe switch ICs (PEX family), and custom ASIC designs — are fabricated at TSMC in Taiwan using 16 nm, 7 nm, and 5 nm process nodes. Optoelectronic components (ACPL optocouplers, HFBR fiber transceivers, AFBR plastic fiber) are assembled and tested in Malaysia (Penang) and Singapore, locations that were historically the core of Avago Technologies before the Broadcom acquisition. Taiwan is the primary declared COO for ICs; Malaysia and Singapore are the primary COO for optoelectronic components.
Broadcom products span multiple HTS categories. Networking ASICs (BCM56960 Trident3, BCM56870 Tomahawk3) classify under HTS 8542.31.0000 (processors and controllers) or potentially 8542.33.0000 (field-programmable gate arrays and custom logic). WiFi/Bluetooth combo SoCs (BCM4356, BCM43752) classify under HTS 8542.39.0000. Storage controllers and PCIe switch chips classify under 8542.39.0000. Optocouplers (ACPL series) and fiber transceivers classify under HTS 8541.40.9500. For all Taiwan-origin Broadcom ICs: 10% Section 122, no Section 301. For Malaysia and Singapore-origin optoelectronics: 10% Section 122, no Section 301. Broadcom has essentially no China manufacturing for ICs, making the higher Section 301 China exposure irrelevant for this supplier.
Broadcom dominates the merchant silicon market for data center Ethernet switching, with Trident and Tomahawk ASICs used in white-box and branded switches from Arista, Cisco, Juniper, and Edgecore. These chips are exclusively Taiwan-COO (TSMC fabrication) and face the 10% Section 122 rate. A high-end BCM56990 Tomahawk4 chip at approximately $8,000 list carries $800 in Section 122 duty — a significant per-unit cost for hyperscale network equipment procurement. Custom Broadcom ASIC designs for hyperscale customers (Google, Meta, Microsoft) are also exclusively TSMC-fabricated, Taiwan COO, at the same 10% rate.
Broadcom's optoelectronic product line — ACPL optocouplers used in industrial isolation, gate driving, and power metering; HFBR plastic optical fiber links; and AFBR transceivers — is the legacy Avago Technologies business assembled in Malaysia (Penang). These are among the most widely used optocouplers in industrial automation, motor drives, and power conversion equipment. Malaysia COO means 10% Section 122. The ACPL-M61L and ACPL-M80 series gate driver optocouplers for IGBT/SiC driving, and the ACPL-C87x precision analog isolation amplifiers, are typical high-volume imports in US industrial equipment manufacturing. Lead times for Broadcom optocouplers have been 26–40 weeks due to Penang capacity constraints.
Following Broadcom's 2023 acquisition of VMware, the company now operates a semiconductor division and an infrastructure software division. For US customs and trade compliance purposes, only the semiconductor and optoelectronic hardware products are subject to tariff obligations — VMware software licenses are not goods and do not attract import duties. Procurement teams sourcing Broadcom networking ICs and optocouplers should maintain clear organizational separation between hardware purchasing (subject to Section 122 tariff) and software licensing (not subject). The combined entity's ERP systems may commingle data; ensure customs entries reflect only physical goods with accurate HTS and COO classifications.
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