Broadcom acquired VMware in a transaction completed on November 22, 2023, expanding its infrastructure-software business beyond semiconductors.
The agreement was announced in May 2022 and valued VMware at approximately $69 billion, including debt. Regulators in several jurisdictions reviewed the deal before completion. VMware was known for virtualization software that allows multiple virtual machines to run on one physical server, a technology widely used in enterprise data centers.
Broadcom had historically been associated mainly with semiconductor products, including chips for networking, broadband, storage, and wireless communications. The VMware purchase continued Chief Executive Hock Tan's strategy of combining semiconductor operations with infrastructure software and concentrating on large enterprise customers.
The acquisition is sometimes confused with Broadcom's earlier attempt to buy Qualcomm. Qualcomm rejected Broadcom's 2018 takeover proposal, and the deal was blocked by the U.S. president on national-security grounds. That failed bid was separate from the later VMware acquisition.