Broadcom Faces Backlash Over VMware Subscription Changes Amid AI Shift

Broadcom Inc., a global semiconductor and infrastructure software giant, is facing backlash from its clients over significant changes to VMware’s licensing model as it plans to pivot to AI. When the tech company bought VMware in a $69 billion deal in 2023, its clients could choose from thousands of different products to manage their data centers. Before long, Broadcom reduced the number of products to five. According to Hock Tan, Broadcom’s chief executive, the initial plan was to lower the VMware products to four. Still, clients stubbornly rejected a series of changes, leading to the addition of the fifth product. Tan told the Financial Times in an interview: 'One of the commitments we made was to make VMware easier to use and to make the whole availability of the product much simpler. Maybe going down to four was too aggressive.'