Networking chipmaker Broadcom announced a milestone last week, as it looks to wireless trends after a weak but not disappointing quarter.

The company’s $3.4 billion acquisition of NetLogic, a former competitor, has finally been given the green light by regulators and the semiconductor maker’s shareholders, who received a compensation of $50 per share. The news comes about five months after the merger was first announced, and NetLogic’s 700 employees are now officially on Broadcom payroll.

“NetLogic Microsystems’ addition extends Broadcom’s infrastructure portfolio with key technologies, including multi-core embedded processor and knowledge-based processor solutions, both critical enablers of the next generation infrastructure build-out. Broadcom CEO Scott McGregor noted, “This acquisition adds a high-margin, high-growth business that strongly increases the addressable market of our infrastructure and networking business.”

After a weak fourth quarter, Broadcom is facing pressure to realize return on its investments – not just NetLogic, but also its ventures in other areas, especially in the mobile and wireless communications industries. Forbes gave the company’s stock a $50 price estimate – a premium of 30 percent over the current price –  citing potential in these two particular areas, where Broadcom has been active recently and has several things in the works.

One of more interesting projects is Broadcom’s work with the still-in-testing 802.11ac WiFi standard, which offers a considerable speed boost and is generally considered superior to its slow predecessor. Broadcom is fleshing out this technology by installing other homegrown features in its upcoming 802.11ac products, such as implicit beam forming. The somewhat SciFi-ish phrase covers the transmission of a signal from the modem directly to the users’ end devices, which would result in cost savings and other improvements that make the overall value proposition a rather attractive one.