Broadcom, the semiconductor giant, is in talks to acquire VMware, according to a person familiar with the matter.
A deal is not yet final, said the person on Sunday night, who was not authorized to publicly discuss it. The terms of any potential deal were not disclosed.
Broadcom has long been highly acquisitive and its chief executive, Hock E. Tan, is known for making deals. The chip company, which was based in Singapore but has moved its headquarters to San Jose, Calif., initially bought mostly other chip companies. But since its $117 billion deal to buy the U.S. chip maker Qualcomm was blocked in March 2018 by President Donald J. Trump on national security concerns, Broadcom has diversified its targets. It bought the software company CA Technologies for $18.9 billion later that year and a security division of Symantec for $10.7 billion in 2019.
VMware, which was spun off from Dell Technologies last November, is known for making virtualization software, which allows one computer to act like many machines and essentially makes computing more efficient. It has also diversified and makes a range of software for data centers.
A spokesman for VMware declined to comment.
