Tan has said he likes to buy mature companies with large, entrenched franchises that generate stable flows of cash. And Broadcom’s chief financial officer, Tom Krause, recently told Morgan Stanley that the company would focus on buying so-called infrastructure software that powers back-end operations for businesses.īroadcom, run by its highly acquisitive chief executive, Hock Tan, was incorporated in Singapore for most of its history before announcing that it would move its headquarters to San Jose, Calif., ahead of its hostile takeover bid for Qualcomm.

Last year, it agreed to buy CA Technologies, a maker of corporate software, for nearly $19 billion. Since then, Broadcom has moved to buy software businesses. The Trump administration said it was specifically concerned that a deal for Qualcomm, an American company, would cede the nation’s primacy in the semiconductor and wireless industry and allow China to vault over the United States in next-generation wireless networks. If an agreement is reached, it will underline how much Broadcom has had to change its acquisition strategy after the humbling defeat of its $117 billion bid last year to buy Qualcomm, the world’s largest maker of wireless chips. The talks were earlier reported by Bloomberg News. A transaction could be announced in the coming days, though the people warned that negotiations were still taking place and could fall apart.Ī Symantec spokeswoman declined to comment, while a Broadcom representative did not immediately return a request for comment. Any deal would most likely value Symantec at more than $15 billion, they said.

The semiconductor giant is in advanced discussions to buy Symantec, which makes antivirus software and other products, two people briefed on the matter said on Wednesday. Broadcom has set its sights on acquiring a well-known name in cybersecurity software, in a further strategy shift after the Trump administration blocked it last year from purchasing another chip maker on national security grounds.

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