Broadcom's attempt to keep US legal documents away from European antitrust investigators just failed. The EU General Court ruled against the chipmaker on Wednesday, clearing the path for the European Commission to obtain papers tied to Broadcom's US lawyers as part of a sweeping investigation into the company's $69 billion VMware deal.

The court found that Broadcom had no legal ground to block the information request. More pointedly, judges noted that allowing such challenges would undermine EU competition enforcement across the board. This means regulators can now move forward with reviewing how Broadcom reshaped VMware's cloud business after closing the acquisition in 2023.

What triggered the investigation

The European Commission is digging into complaints from CISPE, a trade association representing nearly 50 European cloud providers. Microsoft and Amazon are associate members of the group. CISPE says that Broadcom changed VMware's cloud service partner program after the merger in ways that squeezed out European competitors. The group filed its most recent complaint on March 19, 2026, naming specific harm to market competition.

Broadcom shot back by challenging the Commission's May 2026 information request on May 13. The company's position was straightforward: communications with internal US legal counsel should stay private, similar to attorney-client privilege in American courts. The EU court disagreed with that framing.

The privilege gap between continents

Legal protections work differently across the Atlantic. US courts typically shield all communications with in-house lawyers. European law takes a tighter approach, generally protecting only exchanges with external, independent counsel. That mismatch created the opening for this fight. Broadcom was essentially asking the EU to adopt the American standard. Judges rejected that, finding the documents relevant to whether Broadcom actually harmed rivals by shifting VMware's partner terms.

The company maintains it continues investing in European VMware partners and denies causing market damage. Broadcom has also highlighted collaboration projects meant to offer alternatives to hyperscalers like AWS and Azure. Those arguments, however, did not sway the court on the privilege question.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or legal guidance.