Broadcom is preparing to complete the acquisition of VMware

The American semiconductor manufacturer Broadcom Inc. and software vendor VMware Inc. have announced that the planned $61 billion merger will be completed before the deadline of November 26.

This was reported by Bloomberg.

The announcement is aimed at reassuring investors as China has been delaying the approval process.

The joint statement, released on October 30, did not provide specifics on the approval by Chinese regulators. However, the companies noted that there are no "legal impediments" to the completion of the transaction under US merger law. The deadline for completing the deal is November 26. Earlier, until last month, the companies hoped to complete the deal by October 30.

The merger between the US chipmaker and the cloud software company has become one of the largest tech mergers in history and could be another casualty of the intense competition between the US and China for technological leadership.

Washington has recently tightened export restrictions aimed at blocking China's access to high-performance semiconductors. At the same time, there are signs that a new smartphone developed by Huawei Technologies Co. using an advanced chip has boosted sales of Apple Inc.'s iPhone 15.

In recent years, Chinese regulators have repeatedly obstructed major mergers by delaying the process of obtaining the necessary approvals. This is because China is the largest consumer of many technology products, including semiconductors. The most recent example is Intel's abandonment of its $5.4 billion acquisition of Tower Semiconductor Ltd. after a delay in obtaining clearance.

Last year, DuPont de Nemours Inc. abandoned its $5.2 billion acquisition of Rogers Corp. after a delay in obtaining a permit from Beijing.

In 2018, Qualcomm Inc. canceled its $44 billion offer to acquire Dutch chipmaker NXP Semiconductors NV after a lengthy review by the State Administration for the Regulation of the Chinese Market.

Broadcom and VMware said in a statement that the deal has already received legal clearance in other major markets, including the European Union, the United Kingdom, South Korea and Japan.

The Financial Times previously reported that China's antitrust regulators may need more time to approve the deal due to tougher US sanctions on chips, which caused VMWare shares to fall below the offer price.

For Broadcom, the inability to obtain Chinese approval could be a significant obstacle, as it generates about 35% of its revenue from the country. If the deal fails due to failure to receive timely approval from regulators, Broadcom may be forced to pay $1.5 billion under the terms of the agreement.

Broadcom Chief Executive Officer Hok Tan intends to make VMware the centerpiece of its software business after previous acquisitions of CA Technologies and Symantec Corp, which develops enterprise software.

VMware, founded in 1998, pioneered the development of virtualization software that consolidates applications and workloads on fewer server computers. This innovation has simplified the operation of servers running numerous applications.

If the deal is successfully completed, the merger of Broadcom and VMware will be the third largest in history after the Dell/EMC ($67 billion) and Microsoft/Activision Blizzard ($69 billion) acquisitions.