EU Approves Broadcom’s Acquisition of VMware

The European Union (EU) has finally approved Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, after months of uncertainty. The deal is worth 61 billion dollars (more than 55 billion euros). Margrethe Vestager, who leads competition protection within the EU, says Broadcom rival Marvell remains protected by the concessions and can continue to compete on an equal footing.

Concessions to Ensure Fair Competition

To gain approval from Brussels, Broadcom has made concessions to provide Marvell and other parties with access to relevant APIs and the necessary assistance to make its proprietary storage host bus adapters (HBAs) work for the competition. Driver support would therefore be guaranteed, although this will no doubt be closely watched by the rivals in the market.

Broadcom Promises to Invest in R&D

Broadcom has also promised to invest 1.8 billion euros in annual research and development (R&D) expenditure for VMware. This will help ensure that the company remains competitive in the market.
Still, Broadcom is not past all competition watchdogs due to EU approval. For example, the American FTC and the British CMA are regarded as stiff authorities that, for example, are also a thorn in the flesh for Microsoft, which wants to take over Activision Blizzard. So the last word has not yet been said about the marriage between Broadcom and VMware.