European cloud watchdog slams Broadcom over VMware licensing practices, issues warnings about SAP

European watchdog ECCO says Broadcom’s VMware licensing changes are now a material business risk for European cloud providers and enterprise customers, citing steep price increases, tighter BYOL rules, partner-program shutdowns, and compliance-driven degradation mechanisms that could disrupt operations and accelerate vendor lock-in. For CIOs, the strategic implication is that VMware dependency has become a cost, resilience, and sourcing issue—not just an infrastructure one—requiring active scrutiny of renewal terms, migration paths, and operational continuity. ECCO also raised concerns about SAP’s newer API and agentic AI licensing changes, signaling broader pressure across core enterprise software vendors that IT organizations must factor into platform strategy and procurement governance.