Tesco, the UK grocery chain, is moving forty thousand server workloads off VMware after suing Broadcom for what its legal filings call "abusive conduct." The story is straightforward in its sequence: Tesco bought perpetual licenses for VMware's vSphere Foundation and Cloud Foundation in January 2021, along with a VMware Tanzu subscription, with support services through 2026 and an option to extend support four additional years. Broadcom acquired VMware in November 2023. According to Tesco's filings, Broadcom refused to honor the existing contract, demanded "excessive and inflated prices" for products Tesco had already paid for, stopped supporting Tesco's products in January 2026, and is now being sued in the UK's High Court for at least £100 million in damages from each of three defendants — Broadcom, VMware, and reseller Computacenter — plus int ...