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Cloud Providers Challenge EU Approval of Broadcom–VMware Deal

By  |  December 11, 2025

European cloud industry group CISPE has accused EU antitrust regulators of mishandling their review of Broadcom’s $69 billion acquisition of VMware, arguing that officials failed to properly assess the deal’s impact on competition in key software markets, according to Reuters.

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    CISPE, which represents 46 cloud infrastructure providers across Europe and counts Microsoft and Amazon as associate members, filed its challenge in July before the EU’s General Court. In a submission dated December 3 and seen by Reuters, the organisation said the European Commission’s 2023 approval of the takeover suffered from significant legal and analytical shortcomings. “The Commission committed an error in law and manifest error of assessment as regards the impact of the transaction on competition on the market for server virtualisation software,” CISPE stated in its filing.

    Related: Broadcom’s $61 Billion Deal with VMware Under Fire in EU

    Per Reuters, the group argued that regulators overlooked warnings from customers and industry bodies and failed to examine competitive risks in an essential software segment. “By failing to assess the effects of the Transaction on the market for server virtualisation software, the Commission committed an error of law, breaching its obligations under the Merger Regulation and case-law,” CISPE said.

    Broadcom has rejected the allegations, while the European Commission offered no detailed response. “We have no specific comment. As always, we stand ready to defend our decisions in Court,” a Commission spokesperson said, according to Reuters.

    CISPE’s secretary general, Francisco Mingorance, criticised the Commission’s handling of the case, saying: “This was a failure of oversight by the regulator with real-world costs for Europe’s cloud sector and every organisation that depends upon it.”

    Source: Reuters