Net income more than doubled to $4.95 billion. A huge chunk of that windfall came from its infrastructure software division, which includes the recently devoured VMware alongside Computer Associates and what’s left of Symantec’s enterprise biz. That group brought in $6.6 billion, up 25 per cent year over year. For context, Broadcom’s infrastructure software business barely scratched $2 billion per quarter before the VMware purchase.

It appears Broadcom has squeezed an extra billion dollars in quarterly revenue out of VMware, likely thanks to its relentless push for customers to adopt its full-fat Cloud Foundation (VCF) bundle. According to Broadcom CEO Hock Tan, 87 per cent of VMware’s top 10,000 customers have already signed up.

You can’t just buy the odd VMware product any more. Broadcom’s new playbook is all or nothing, and if that means customers get slapped with bigger bills, Tan doesn’t seem too fussed. The firm claims the bundled setup quickly pays for itself.

Broadcom CFO Kirsten Spears, noting that the software division’s operating margins jumped to 76 per cent, up from 60 per cent a year ago.

“This reflects our disciplined integration of VMware,” she said.

The license renewal frenzy still has legs too. Tan said Broadcom is “more than halfway” through the cycle, which he expects will drag on for another 18 months.

But it’s not all software. The chip side of Broadcom’s business pulled in $8.4 billion, a 17 per cent gain. AI hardware was the star, growing 46 per cent to $4.4 billion. Broadcom says it already has three customers lined up to buy millions of its custom AI accelerators, with four more sniffing around.

“These partners are still unwavering in their plan to invest despite the uncertain economic environment. In fact, what we've seen recently is that they are doubling down on inference in order to monetize their platforms,” Tan told investors.

He is now predicting an “acceleration of XPU demand into the back half of 2026."

Tan thinks that as AI clusters bulk up, reckons copper interconnects will get ditched in favour of optics. That will happen within the next year or two and Broadcom plans to be front and centre, possibly with co-packaged optics or a transitional pluggable variant.

Outside AI, things looked flatter. Revenue from Broadcom’s non-AI silicon business slipped five per cent. There were modest gains in broadband, enterprise networking and storage, but industrial and wireless silicon lagged. Tan described it as a mature business with steady expectations going forward.

As for more acquisitions, Broadcom’s answer was a cautious maybe. Tan said the firm will use its cash flow to pay down debt or buy back stock. Any future dealmaking would be funded by borrowing. Investors responded with a shrug, sending shares down about four per cent in after-hours trading.