Computer chipmaker Broadcom has completed its $69bn (£55bn) acquisition of cloud computing firm VMware, wrapping up one of the biggest takeover deals in the technology sector.
The deal was scrutinized by regulators around the world ahead of the last clearance from China.
There were concerns it could be affected by US-China tensions.
The approval follows a meeting between Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping at the APEC summit in the US last week.
American company Broadcom – headquartered in San Jose, California – designs, develops, and supplies semiconductor chips while it also offers infrastructure software solutions.
VMware – also an American company with headquarters in Palo Alto, California- develops virtualization software that allows a user to run a virtual computer on a physical computer to increase the efficiency of the computer system.
Broadcom’s president and chief executive officer, Hock Tan, said they were excited to bring together their teams to build “the world’s leading infrastructure technology company”.
Together, they hope to create private and hybrid cloud environments where users can run “apps anywhere”.
To complete the deal, the firm has sought and received legal merger clearances in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, Israel, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, and the UK.
Shares in VMWare will now cease to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), according to the company.
The US and China have been engaged in a trade war since 2018 when the then US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs and other trade barriers on China.
Advanced chips, which are used in everything from cars, and smartphones to fighter jets, have been the most recent hot commodity.
Last month, China hit back at the Biden administration’s decision to impose new restrictions on their exports.
However, the two leaders who met during the APEC summit managed to agree on a number of issues ranging from tackling climate change together to resuming military communication.
Despite President Biden calling President Xi “a dictator”, China’s state-owned media hailed it as a “historic” summit that would be a “new starting point” for their relations.
Broadcom has been caught up in tensions between the world’s two biggest economies.
In 2017, the firm announced what would have been the largest-ever takeover deal for rival Qualcomm.
But four months later, it was blocked by Mr Trump after US national security officials warned that a deal could help China overtake America in the race to develop 5G technology.
Weeks later, Broadcom decided to move to relocate to the US from Singapore.
Source- BBC
