Broadcom faces EU scrutiny over VMware licensing changes that hiked prices up to 1,500%

When Broadcom closed its roughly $61B acquisition of VMware in November 2023, it promised simplification. What customers and partners got instead was a licensing overhaul so aggressive that European regulators are now asking pointed questions about whether it crosses the line from aggressive business strategy into outright anti-competitive behavior.

The European Commission has been sending information requests to cloud service providers since July 2026, digging into whether Broadcom’s post-acquisition moves have caused competitive harm across Europe’s cloud infrastructure market. The investigation, which traces back to initial market inquiries in April 2024, is now entering a more intensive phase, and Broadcom’s attempts to slow it down have already been rebuffed by the courts.

The numbers that got regulators’ attention

Broadcom’s changes to VMware’s business model after the acquisition were sweeping. The company ended sales of new perpetual licenses, forcing customers onto bundled subscription models. That shift came with price increases that users have reported in the range of 800% to 1,500%.

The partner ecosystem took an equally dramatic hit. Broadcom slashed the number of VMware Cloud Solution Provider partners from over 4,000 globally to just 19 in the United States and 9 in the United Kingdom. Thousands of IT service providers that had built businesses around reselling and supporting VMware products found themselves locked out virtually overnight.

CISPE and the formal complaint

The Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe, known as CISPE, filed a formal antitrust complaint against Broadcom in March 2026. The group represents European cloud service providers who argue that Broadcom is abusing VMware’s dominant position in the virtualization market. Their complaint seeks immediate relief measures, essentially asking regulators to intervene before the competitive damage becomes irreversible.

As of September 2026, no interim measures have been imposed on Broadcom. But the investigation remains active, and Broadcom’s legal maneuvering to slow the process has not gone well. In April 2026, the General Court dismissed Broadcom’s request to suspend the Commission’s information-gathering efforts.

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