Broadcom is still best known as a chip developer with very strong positions in transport networks, WiFi, broadband access and other parts of the telco platform. However, its attempts to expand further into cellular networks and devices have been thwarted, and since 2018 it has been broadening its business in a different way, by acquiring enterprise software firms. It snapped up Computer Associates (CA) and security provider Symantec, and now it has offered $61bn for cloud technology leader VMware. If that deal is approved, it will turn Broadcom into a real software company, with almost half of its revenues being generated from a division that will be rebranded with the VMware name. This is potentially a more significant change…