This echoes my experiences with Broadcom quite well. A couple years back I simply crossed Broadcom off the list of chips being considered for anything at all, b

This echoes my experiences with Broadcom quite well. A couple years back I simply crossed Broadcom off the list of chips being considered for anything at all, because it's too much hassle to beg them for access, much less for actual parts. Mind you, Broadcom doesn't care about this at all — I was never a significant customer volume-wise for them, and as you wrote this is their strategy. They simply will not work with small companies.