CISPE says the confidentiality ruling removes an immediate obstacle to its challenge to the approval of Broadcom’s VMware acquisition; it does not decide the merits of the case.
The EU General Court has ruled that cloud-provider association CISPE can keep the identities of members supporting its VMware merger challenge confidential from Broadcom. The Register said the decision removes a procedural obstacle to the association’s action against the European Commission’s approval of Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware.
CISPE, short for Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe, says the order was made on 23 October 2026 by the president of the General Court’s Sixth Chamber. Its case, T-503/25, seeks to overturn the Commission’s approval; the confidentiality decision does not settle that question, the action’s admissibility or Broadcom’s conduct.
Broadcom sought information identifying the members, saying it needed their names to challenge whether the action could be admitted. CISPE argued that disclosure would expose the current and former VMware customers to a significant risk of retaliation because of Broadcom’s market power. The members had supplied information about their commercial relationships with VMware.
Broadcom completed its acquisition of VMware in November 2023. A month later, partners were told that VMware’s partner program would end in early 2024 and that most cloud service providers would be dropped. CISPE says it filed its challenge in July 2025.
VMware’s server virtualization software lets providers run virtual computing systems on their own infrastructure. CISPE says excluded providers built businesses reselling the software and using it to serve customers. The association says fewer than 20 European providers remain authorized to offer VMware-based services, down from more than a thousand.
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The Commission imposed conditions concerning interoperability with rival hardware, meaning the products’ ability to work together. CISPE argues those conditions did not address risks to cloud providers that depend on VMware software. The association says the Commission failed to assess the acquisition’s effects on those providers properly. Its spokesperson acknowledged that annulment is a long shot.
Analysis
CISPE Secretary General Francisco Mingorance said excluded providers have until 31 March 2027 to sell their infrastructure or customers to a competitor chosen by Broadcom, or close.
CISPE says it and others have also filed a separate complaint with the Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition over Broadcom’s actions after the merger. The association hopes to bring Broadcom into negotiations and change practices it considers harmful, so European cloud providers can again serve customers on commercially fair and viable terms. Broadcom and the Commission had not responded to requests for comment by publication.
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