Survey finds 86 percent of firms reducing VMware use after Broadcom deal
Two years after Broadcom completed its $61 billion acquisition of VMware, the large scale customer exodus many had predicted has not materialized. Instead, companies are gradually scaling back their reliance on VMware as they reassess long term infrastructure strategies.
A new report released by CloudBolt Software shows that 86 percent of surveyed enterprises are actively working to shrink their VMware footprint. While the initial wave of concern that followed the takeover has subsided, organizations are now shifting workloads more deliberately, one system at a time.
The study, titled “The mass exodus that never happened: the pressure is just beginning,” surveyed 302 IT decision makers at North American companies with at least 1,000 employees in January 2026. It highlights a gap between earlier fears and actual cost increases. In 2024, 73 percent of respondents expected their VMware expenses to more than double. In practice, only 5 percent reported price hikes exceeding 100 percent.
Despite lower than anticipated price shocks, disruption remains widespread. Eighty eight percent of respondents described the Broadcom VMware transition as disruptive. Price increases were cited by 89 percent as a key concern, followed by uncertainty over Broadcom’s strategic direction at 85 percent and worries about support quality at 78 percent.
Rod Squires, chief executive of CloudBolt, said enterprises are now focused less on reacting and more on executing transition plans. Organizations are balancing risk, managing parallel environments during migration and trying to maintain flexibility before renewal deadlines narrow their options and strain budgets.
The survey found that 54 percent of organizations are choosing to remain with VMware while simultaneously reducing dependency. Rather than abandoning the platform outright, many are pursuing incremental changes. Among companies migrating workloads, 72 percent are moving to public cloud infrastructure as a service platforms. Microsoft Hyper V and Azure Stack were cited by 38 percent, while 34 percent are adopting software as a service alternatives.
Customer dissatisfaction has also reached the courts. British retailer Tesco has filed a £100 million lawsuit against Broadcom, VMware and reseller Computacenter, alleging breach of contract tied to perpetual licenses purchased in 2021.
In court filings, Tesco said VMware software underpins the servers and data systems that support its retail operations, hosting around 40,000 server workloads and connecting to in store checkout systems. The company claims it is being forced to pay inflated prices for virtualization software it had already licensed, after Broadcom ended support for products sold under perpetual licensing models and shifted customers toward subscription based offerings.
The legal dispute underscores broader tensions following the acquisition, particularly around licensing changes that have reshaped customer relationships.
Gartner projects that by 2028, 35 percent of VMware workloads will migrate to other platforms, driven by cost sensitivity and evolving architectural priorities. Alternatives gaining traction include Proxmox, Nutanix, Red Hat OpenShift and hyperscale cloud providers.
CloudBolt’s research also shows that 41 percent of respondents report increased scrutiny from executive leadership since the acquisition, as organizations evaluate vendor risk, cost volatility and the operational complexity of managing multi platform environments. More than half, 56 percent, said they have revised their VMware strategy at least twice since Broadcom took control, reflecting a market still adjusting to new realities.
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