Tesco transitions 40,000 server workloads from VMware following legal dispute with Broadcom

Tesco, a retail conglomerate based in the United Kingdom, is transitioning 40,000 server workloads away from VMware due to allegations of "abusive conduct" by Broadcom, as stated in recent legal filings. Tesco filed a lawsuit in the UK’s High Court against Broadcom for breach of contract last year. According to a report from The Register, the lawsuit claims that in January 2021, Tesco purchased perpetual licenses for VMware’s vSphere Foundation and Cloud Foundation, along with a subscription to VMware Tanzu and support services until 2026, with an option to extend support for an additional four years. However, after Broadcom acquired VMware in November 2023, it allegedly refused to honor the agreement and instead attempted to charge Tesco "excessive and inflated prices for virtualization software for which Tesco has already paid." The complaint also states that Broadcom would not allow Tesco to purchase support services for its perpetually licensed software without also acquiring "duplicative subscription-based licenses for those same software products."