After long negotiations and plety of concessions, Broadcom can finally count on the EU’s blessing for its acquisition of VMware. The company is pledging to provide interoperability and technical support to competitors in exchange for the OK.
The deal involves $61 billion (more than 55 billion euros). Reuters already reported that the EU would give its approval, and finally confirmed that those in Brussels were indeed doing so today.
Margrethe Vestager, the head of the EU’s antitrust efforts, says Broadcom rival Marvell will remain protected by the concessions and can continue to compete on a level playing field. Both companies are chipmakers, but Broadcom is diversifying significantly, particularly through acquisitions like this one.
Tip: Broadcom CEO pledges $2 billion yearly R&D spend to improve VMware
To get approval from Brussels, Broadcom promises to give Marvell and others access to relevant APIs and provide the necessary help to make its own host bus adapters (HBAs) for storage operational for competitors. Driver support would thus be guaranteed, although this will no doubt be closely watched by rivals in the market.
Still hurdles to clear
Broadcom has not yet received a go-ahead from all competition watchdogs, having now sealed EU approval. The U.S. FTC and the British CMA, for example, are considered stiff authorities that are also a thorn in the side of Microsoft, which wants to acquire Activision Blizzard, for example. The last word has not yet been said about the marriage between Broadcom and VMware.
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