Broadcom accused of VMware kill switch by EU watchdog

A European regulatory body has accused Broadcom of embedding a mechanism in VMware’s virtualization software that can automatically degrade or disable customer environments if compliance reports are not submitted on time. The claim, made in a recent report by the European Cloud Competition Observatory (ECCO), describes the system as a "kill switch" that activates when cloud providers miss a 180-day reporting window. According to ECCO, the automated response can render entire virtualization infrastructures non-functional, raising concerns about the resilience of European digital infrastructure if a single deadline is missed.

The report also highlights other actions by Broadcom that contributed to its "critical" rating—the lowest on ECCO’s scale. In January, Broadcom abruptly terminated its primary VMware reseller program for European cloud providers without warning, cutting off access to virtualization services that many had relied on for years. Additionally, ECCO flagged new "Bring Your Own License" terms that restrict customers to a shrinking pool of certified hosts, alongside license price increases reported by CISPE members to be ten times higher than pre-Broadcom VMware pricing.

Regulatory scrutiny and market impact

ECCO’s findings come amid broader concerns about market dominance and vendor lock-in in the European cloud sector. The report describes Broadcom’s actions as an "extraordinary and disproportionate" use of market power, particularly given the lack of comparable alternatives for affected providers. The abrupt shutdown of the reseller program left many cloud operators scrambling to maintain service continuity, with no clear replacement for VMware’s virtualization stack.

The report also evaluated other major cloud vendors. SAP received an "amber" rating due to data access restrictions tied to its agentic AI offerings and a shift toward capacity-based billing, which ECCO warns could make running SAP services on third-party clouds significantly more expensive. Microsoft, by contrast, was praised for harmonizing extended security update pricing across cloud providers and participating in new SME-focused cloud onboarding initiatives under the European Cloud Accelerator.

What’s next for providers

The report underscores the fragility of supply chains in the European cloud market, where reliance on a single vendor can lead to sudden disruptions. For cloud providers, the findings highlight the need for contingency planning, particularly as licensing terms and compliance requirements continue to evolve. Smaller operators, already facing cost pressures from price increases, may find themselves disproportionately affected by the new restrictions on certified hosts and capacity-based billing models.

ECCO’s ratings are not static; they reflect ongoing vendor behavior, meaning companies can move between categories based on future actions. For now, the report serves as a warning to both regulators and industry players about the risks of over-reliance on a single vendor’s ecosystem.