# Broadcom Denied Access to CISPE Member Identities in VMware Merger Challenge EU General Court protects cloud providers from Broadcom retaliation in ongoing legal dispute. - **Source:** [www.theregister.com - Articles](https://www.theregister.com) - **Published:** 2026-11-03 - **Topic:** [Business](https://brifing.si/c/business) - **Original article:** - **On Brifing:** https://brifing.si/s/567c4173-4005-41ea-a045-b060b4e970ff ## Court Protects Member Identities The EU General Court ruled that CISPE can keep the identities of its members confidential from Broadcom. This decision follows a legal challenge against the European Commission’s unconditional approval of Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware. Broadcom sought this information to contest the admissibility of the action, but the court prioritized protecting the members. ## Risk of Market Retaliation CISPE argued that revealing the identities of its members would expose them to significant retaliation risks due to Broadcom’s immense market power. These members, who are VMware customers, provided sensitive commercial data regarding their relationships. The court’s procedural ruling removes a major obstacle, allowing the substantive case against the merger to proceed. ## Dismantling the Channel Program Since the acquisition concluded in November 2023, Broadcom has aggressively restructured VMware’s ecosystem. The company terminated the existing channel program in early 2024 and cut ties with the vast majority of VMware Cloud Services Providers. Only a select few providers with the largest turnover were retained, significantly altering the European cloud landscape. ## Escalating Costs and Foreclosure Broadcom’s post-merger actions have caused severe friction, with reports of extreme price hikes, such as a 1,050 percent increase proposed to AT&T. CISPE notes that authorized European providers have plummeted from over one thousand to fewer than twenty. This trend confirms the foreclosure risks that CISPE originally warned the European Commission about. ## The March 2027 Deadline Excluded providers now face a strict deadline of March 31, 2027, to either sell their infrastructure, transfer customers to a Broadcom-approved competitor, or cease operations entirely. CISPE Secretary General Francisco Mingorance described this as a dismantling of the channel, emphasizing that the case is even more critical today than at its initial filing. ## Seeking Merger Approval Annulment The primary objective of this legal action is to annul the European Commission’s unconditional clearance of the deal. CISPE contends that the Commission failed to properly assess the acquisition’s impact on European cloud providers. While the Commission imposed limited interoperability conditions, CISPE argues these measures were insufficient to protect the broader market ecosystem. ## Precedent for Legal Reassessment CISPE draws a parallel to the 2004 Sony and BMG merger, which was later ruled to lack the requisite legal standard, forcing a reassessment. By pursuing this path, the association hopes to bring Broadcom to the negotiating table. They aim to end egregious practices and restore a commercially fair environment for European cloud providers. ## Broader Competition Complaints Beyond the merger challenge, CISPE has filed a formal competition complaint with the Directorate-General for Competition regarding Broadcom’s post-merger conduct. The organization remains committed to challenging the market power dynamics that have reshaped the private cloud sector. Both Broadcom and the European Commission have declined to comment on these specific procedural developments. ## Sources covering this story - https://www.theregister.com/virtualization/2026/11/03/broadcom-denied-names-of-cloud-providers-backing-vmware-merger-challenge/5307178 — --- _Summary written by Brifing from the original reporting. Copyright in the original article belongs to its publisher; read the full piece at the link above._