How Broadcom went from a simple Hewlett Packard division to eventually grew and become a tech industry behemoth

You’d be forgiven for not knowing the name HP Associates, but it now ranks among one of the biggest companies in the world.

This was the semiconductor product division of Hewlett Packard - founded in 1961, it marked the beginning of a long, winding road which eventually culminated in the creation of Broadcom, a modern-day tech behemoth, becoming just one of a select few firms to surpass a $1 trillion dollar market cap in late 2024.

But Broadcom is more than just a chipmaker; since its controversial acquisition of VMware, the company has made notable in-roads into the cloud infrastructure and software industries - so here’s everything you need to know about Broadcom.

Broadcom has gone by many names

From its humble beginnings at Hewlett Packard in 1961, the company remained less of a company and more a business segment at the Silicon Valley giant - at least until 1999, when it split as part of the Agilent Technologies spin-off.

Before long, it was going by another name - Avago Technologies, a change which came after KKR and Silver Lake Partners acquired the semiconductor product division of Agilent in 2005 in a deal worth $2.6 billion.

This proved to be a successful period in the company’s history. In August 2009 the company went public on the NASDAQ, which was then followed by a period of aggressive acquisitions and expansion.

Deals for CyOptics , Amantus, and LSI Corporation all saw the company expand its reach and branch out into new, lucrative markets. The latter of those in particular positioned it to mount a charge in the data center industry.

Several years - and several more acquisitions - culminated in the acquisition of Broadcom Corporation. Now I know what you’re thinking - there was already a Broadcom?

Broadcom Corporation, founded in 1991, was a fabless semiconductor company based in California. Given the trajectory of Avago, the acquisition here made sense, and in this instance they chose to simply merge the companies under the Broadcom name.

The deal, valued at $37 billion, is arguably among the most impactful acquisitions in tech history, instantly creating an industry behemoth with revenue streams of up to $15 billion and a total market value of $77 billion.

Broadcom Corp’s long-standing reputation in key sectors such as data centers and mobile meant the deal was a match made in heaven following Avago’s aggressive acquisitions drive in recent years.

Broadcom goes from strength to strength

Broadcom has gone from strength to strength since the 2016 merger, and is firmly among the top chipmakers globally. The tech giant has courted controversy in recent years, however, particularly in the wake of its acquisition of VMware.

After acquiring the company, Broadcom has embarked on a sweeping overhaul of practices, most notably scrapping perpetual licenses which sparked a furious backlash among customers.

Changes to its channel partner programs have also raised concerns and sparked something of a blossoming industry among competitors hoping to lure away customers furious over price hikes and scrapped solutions lines.

Despite this customer backlash, the acquisition appears to be paying dividends for Broadcom thus far. Combined with its AI strategy, the company has reported strong financial results in recent months.

Financial results for its third quarter of fiscal year 2025, published in September, showed it reported a 22% jump in revenue compared to the same period in FY2024. A key factor behind this, the company noted, lay in VMware and demand for custom AI accelerators.

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