Analysis | Broadcom’s Pursuit of VMware Takes Page From Michael Dell
Summary
But Broadcom Chief Executive Officer Hock Tan might be taking inspiration from Michael Dell in pursuing a big-ticket deal that would elevate the company’s position in a sector that it wants to dominate in the future, rather than in one it occupies today. Seven years ago the company he ran at the time, Singapore-based chipmaker Avago Technologies Inc., announced a $37 billion stock-and-cash bid for what was then called Broadcom Corp. But Tan wasn’t done, and in 2019 bought the enterprise security business of Symantec Corp. for $11 billion, part of his move to reorient the company away from just selling chips to offering a broad array of systems products including storage and networking. Part of that new focus has been a move into the area of software that includes network and information security, authentication and access control and developer tools. Tan has already said that the current chip boom won’t last, and he has made clear that he doesn’t want to be stuck with the lower growth rates that may result when today’s semiconductor party becomes tomorrow’s hangover.
