Five cloud business groups, including the Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE), have joined forces to urge EU antitrust regulators to suspend some business practices of US chipmaker Broadcom. The groups accuse Broadcom of imposing steep price increases on VMware’s virtualisation platform users and excluding thousands of providers from deploying and purchasing it.

Background

CISPE, which has nearly 50 members across Europe and counts Microsoft and Amazon as associate members, initially asked for an interim measure on its own after Broadcom revamped its VMware cloud service provider ecosystem in 2023. The European Commission, which acts as the EU competition enforcer, questioned the VMware licensing changes following CISPE’s complaint.

Belgium’s association of digital business users Beltug, and its counterparts France’s Cigref, Germany’s VOICE, and CIO Platform Nederland have now joined CISPE in its call for action. The groups have asked EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera and EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen to ensure a transition period of at least three years while regulators continue their investigation into Broadcom.

Broadcom has disagreed with CISPE’s allegations, stating that the organisation is funded by large cloud service providers, or hyperscalers, which misrepresent the realities of the market. A Broadcom spokesperson said the company remains committed to investing in its European VMware Cloud Service Provider partners, helping them offer alternatives to hyperscalers and meet the evolving needs of European businesses and organisations.

Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.