Broadcom combines a large semiconductor business with a portfolio of infrastructure software. Its chips sit in data center networking gear, broadband equipment, smartphones and industrial devices, with custom silicon for hyperscale cloud customers an important growth line. On the software side the company owns VMware, mainframe tooling and enterprise security products, acquired through a long series of purchases. That playbook, buying established franchises and running them for cash flow, has defined Broadcom for years and given it one of the higher margin profiles in the industry.