Tesco, the UK’s largest retailer, is migrating approximately 40,000 server workloads away from VMware infrastructure while simultaneously suing Broadcom for what it calls “abusive conduct” in the UK’s High Court. The lawsuit, seeking damages exceeding £100 million, alleges that Broadcom’s post-acquisition overhaul of VMware’s licensing model effectively destroyed perpetual licenses Tesco had already paid for.
What happened with the licenses
Back 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 running through 2026. The deal included an option to extend support for an additional four years.
Then Broadcom acquired VMware in November 2023 and started changing the rules. The semiconductor giant ceased selling standalone support for perpetual licenses, pushing customers toward subscription-only models instead.
Tesco’s lawsuit, filed on July 15, 2025, names Broadcom, VMware International, and Computacenter as defendants. Dell’s involvement as a distributor has added another layer of complexity to the proceedings. The case remains active heading into 2026, with additional filings submitted as recently as February of this year.
