Broadcom

Broadcom reported a 40% reduction in combined Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions for fiscal year 2025 versus its 2021 baseline (which was recalculated after the 2023 VMware acquisition to fully incorporate VMware's footprint), surpassing its original 38%-by-2030 reduction target roughly five years ahead of schedule. The FY2025 GHG figures (44,167 tCO2e Scope 1; 204,014 tCO2e Scope 2 location-based / 135,985 tCO2e market-based) received independent limited assurance from Apex Companies LLC under ISO 14064-3 in March 2026. The company maintains a 2050 net-zero commitment aligned with the Paris Agreement. Important caveat: both the target and this verification cover only Scope 1 and Scope 2 (operational) emissions. A 2024 shareholder resolution pressed Broadcom to adopt Scope 3 (supply-chain) targets and a full climate transition plan, as peers Qualcomm and Analog Devices have done with SBTi-approved Scope 1-3 targets; Broadcom has not yet done so.

Broadcom's VMware Cloud Foundation division donated Velero, an open-source Kubernetes backup and disaster-recovery tool originally created by Heptio (acquired by VMware in 2018), to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation Sandbox. The donation moves the project from vendor control to neutral, community-run governance. Broadcom is separately recognized as a top-five long-term contributor to CNCF projects overall, with maintainers active on etcd, Cluster API, Harbor, Antrea, and containerd.

The European Commission opened an antitrust investigation into Broadcom in October 2024 over concerns the company is using anticompetitive practices following its $69 billion VMware acquisition. The investigation focuses on allegations that Broadcom is tying VMware products together to force customers into comprehensive deals, restricting interoperability with competing products, and using its dominant position to lock customers into its ecosystem. The European Cloud Competition Observatory gave Broadcom a 'red' rating indicating serious competitive concerns.

Following Broadcom's $69 billion VMware acquisition in November 2023, the company implemented dramatic price increases of 800-1,500% and eliminated perpetual licenses in favor of subscription-only models. This triggered multiple lawsuits: AT&T sued over licensing changes (settled), UK supermarket chain Tesco filed a £100 million lawsuit alleging Broadcom is forcing massive overpayment and threatening to shut down systems, and numerous other customers reported similar experiences. Broadcom's approach has been characterized as 'predatory' with customers facing 10-15x cost increases.

In 2023, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan earned $161.8 million in total compensation, up 167% from the previous year. This represented a CEO-to-median worker pay ratio of 510-to-1, making him the third-highest-paid CEO in the US.

CEO Hock Tan told staff that VMware's remote-friendly policies would end: 'Remote work does not exist at Broadcom.' When asked about exceptions, Tan said 'you better learn how to walk on water, I'm serious.' Only sales workers and those living 60+ miles from an office were exempt.

Following Broadcom's November 2023 acquisition of VMware, the company conducted mass layoffs affecting 2,000-3,000 employees across California, Colorado, Georgia, and Massachusetts. Partners described the situation as 'chaos'.

In April 2020, CEO Hock Tan drew criticism when he forced employees to return to work for one week per month during the COVID-19 outbreak, while many tech companies maintained remote work policies.