Broadcom’s $61 billion VMware deal wins conditional EU antitrust approval

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – U.S. chipmaker Broadcom (AVGO.O) won antitrust approval from the European Union on Wednesday for its proposed $61 billion acquisition of cloud computing company VMware (VMW.N) after offering solutions to help rival Marvell Technology (MRVL). O)).

The deal, the largest ever for Broadcom, will help the chipmaker diversify into enterprise software.

Broadcom has offered Marvell and other competitors interoperability obligations related to Fiber Channel Host Bus Adapters (FC HBAs), a type of storage switch, the European Commission said, confirming a story told by Reuters last month.

Marvell and other competitors will have “guaranteed access to interoperable APIs as well as the materials, tools and technical support required to develop and certify third-party FC HBAs,” according to the EU competition enforcement officer.

Marvell and other competitors will also get guaranteed access to the source code for all current and future Broadcom FC HBA drivers through an irrevocable open source license.

“The commitments made by Broadcom will enable its sole competitor, Marvell, to continue to compete on an equal footing and ensure similar protection for any future participant,” EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.

The US Federal Trade Commission and Britain’s Competition Agency are also examining the deal.

“We continue to make progress on our various regulatory filings around the world, having obtained legal merger authorization in Australia, Brazil, Canada, the European Union, South Africa and Taiwan, and foreign investment control authorization in all necessary jurisdictions,” said Broadcom. in the current situation.

Fu Yun Che’s report. Editing by Jason Neely

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