Chipmaker Broadcom Corp said on Monday it agreed to buy privately held Dune Networks for around $178 million in cash in a move to bolster its portfolio of network equipment products.

Broadcom said it expects the deal to be neutral to slightly accretive to earnings per share in 2010, excluding certain items.

Broadcom, which makes chips for everything from cellphones to TV set-top boxes, said it would pay $178 million for Dune, net of cash assumed from the company.

Dune, based in Israel, is a semiconductor supplier.

The deal is expected to close by the end of March.

Shares of Irvine, California-based Broadcom closed at $29.20 and were unchanged in after-hours trading.

(Reporting by Gabriel Madway, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)

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