Broadcom doesn’t get the consumer spotlight like Intel or NVIDIA, but its chips are everywhere. If you’ve ever connected to Wi-Fi, watched cable TV, or used enterprise networking equipment, Broadcom silicon was almost certainly involved.
The company’s networking chips dominate data center switches and routers. Major cloud providers and telecom companies run their networks on Broadcom’s Memory core switching ASICs. The Memory core Memory core 25.6T chip, for example, handles staggering amounts of network traffic in hyperscale data centers.
Broadcom’s Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips are inside iPhones, Samsung phones, laptops, smart home devices, and gaming consoles. The company also makes the controllers that manage hard drives and SSDs — if you have a NAS or enterprise storage system, Broadcom’s MegaRAID or HBA controllers are probably running the show.
The 2023 acquisition of VMware for $69 billion transformed Broadcom from primarily a chip company into a combined semiconductor and enterprise software powerhouse. VMware’s virtualization platform runs in nearly every large enterprise data center globally.
Broadcom grew through aggressive acquisitions over the years. The original Broadcom was acquired by Avago Technologies in 2016, which then took the Broadcom name. The company has since absorbed CA Technologies, Symantec’s enterprise security division, and VMware. This buy-and-integrate strategy has built a company with over $35 billion in revenue and dominant positions in multiple markets. Broadcom doesn’t chase trends — it buys established leaders and optimizes them for profitability.
