The computer chipmaker Broadcom has successfully concluded its $69 billion (£55 billion) acquisition of the cloud computing company VMware, bringing to a close one of the most significant merger and acquisition deals in the history of the technology industry.
Before receiving final approval from China, the transaction was examined by regulatory authorities all around the world. There were worries that tensions between the United States and China could have an effect on it.
The clearance comes as a result of a conversation that took place between Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping during the Apec conference that took place in the United States last week.
Broadcom, an American firm with headquarters in San Jose, California, is in the business of designing, developing, and supplying semiconductor chips in addition to providing solutions for software used in infrastructure.
Virtualization software is developed by VMware, another American firm with headquarters in Palo Alto, California.
This software enables a user to operate a virtual computer on a physical computer, which in turn increases the efficiency of the computer system.
VMware is an American company. Hock Tan, president and chief executive officer of Broadcom, stated that the business was thrilled to bring together their teams in order to develop "the world's premier infrastructure technology company."
They expect that by working together, they would be able to establish private and hybrid cloud environments in which customers will be able to run "apps anywhere."
The company has applied for and been granted legal sanction to merge in the following jurisdictions: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, Israel, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom, in order to finalise the transaction.
According to the firm, trading in VMWare shares will now be discontinued on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
Since 2018, when Donald Trump was the President of the United States and slapped tariffs and other trade barriers on China, the United States and China have been engaged in a trade war with each other.
The most recent in-demand item is advanced chips, which are utilised in a wide variety of products, including automobiles, smartphones, and even combat jets.
In response to the decision made by the Biden administration to place further limits on China's exports, China took action the month before last. However, the two leaders who met during the APEC summit were able to reach an agreement on a number of issues.
These concerns ranged from restoring military communication to jointly addressing the issue of climate change.
In spite of the fact that President Biden referred to President Xi as "a tyrant," China's state-owned media welcomed the summit as "historic" and predicted that it would mark a "new starting point" for the two countries' relations.
Broadcom has been caught in the crossfire between the two economies that are the largest in the world.
In 2017, the company announced what would have been the largest acquisition deal in the history of Qualcomm's rival company.
However, President Trump halted the agreement four months later after U.S. national security authorities expressed concern that an accord could provide China with a competitive edge in the 5G technology development industry.
Following a few weeks of deliberation, Broadcom decided to relocate its headquarters from Singapore to the United States.
