San Francisco – A growing number of organizations are actively working to reduce their reliance on VMware, a trend accelerated by Broadcom’s acquisition and subsequent changes to VMware’s licensing and product strategy. A recent survey by CloudBolt found that a substantial 86% of respondents are currently taking steps to decrease their VMware footprint, signaling a significant shift in the virtualization landscape.
The changes implemented by Broadcom, which completed its acquisition of VMware in November 2023, have been particularly challenging for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Concerns center around bundled products, reduced flexibility in licensing options, a shrinking partner network, and increased costs. This has prompted many organizations to explore alternative virtualization and cloud solutions, leading to a wave of migrations.
VMware Workload Migration: A Multi-Cloud Approach
The survey data reveals a phased approach to migrating away from VMware. Currently, 36% of organizations have migrated between 1% and 24% of their VMware environment, while 32% have moved 25% to 49%. A smaller, but still significant, 10% have migrated between 50% and 74% of their workloads, and 2% have moved over 75%. Interestingly, 5% of respondents reported having not yet migrated any workloads from VMware. This suggests a diverse range of strategies, from gradual transitions to more aggressive overhauls.
Where are these workloads going? Public cloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is the most popular destination, attracting 72% of migrated workloads. Microsoft’s Hyper-V and Azure Stack are also gaining traction, serving as the new home for 43% of respondents’ migrated environments. This highlights a clear preference for established cloud platforms and Microsoft’s growing influence in the virtualization space.
Challenges in the Migration Process
While the desire to reduce VMware dependence is strong, the migration process isn’t without its hurdles. CloudBolt’s report identifies multi-platform complexity as the biggest challenge, cited by 52% of respondents. Managing diverse environments with varying operational and governance models adds significant overhead. A skills gap, affecting 33% of organizations, also poses a considerable obstacle. Successfully migrating and managing workloads across multiple platforms requires specialized expertise that many IT teams currently lack.
Gartner previously predicted that 35% of VMware workloads would migrate elsewhere by 2028, as reported in September 2025. Ars Technica covered this prediction, highlighting the growing dissatisfaction with Broadcom’s changes.
Broadcom’s Strategy and the Future of VMware
According to CloudBolt’s analysis, Broadcom’s strategy isn’t necessarily focused on retaining every VMware customer. Instead, the company appears to be prioritizing maximizing value from those who remain on the platform while acknowledging and accommodating a degree of churn. This approach suggests a calculated acceptance of customer attrition as part of a broader economic model. “Their strategy was never to keep every customer,” the report states. “It was to maximize value from those still on the platform while the market slowly diversifies. The model assumes churn and it’s built to produce the economics work anyway. Broadcom has done the math—and they’re fine with it.”
The decision to end business relationships with VMware’s lowest-tier channel partners in June 2025, as reported by Arstechnica, further illustrates this shift. This move, while potentially disruptive for some customers, aligns with Broadcom’s focus on higher-value engagements.
VMware Cloud Foundation: Continued Investment Amidst Change
Despite the broader migration trends, Broadcom continues to invest in VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF). In September 2025, Broadcom (VMware) was recognized as a leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Distributed Hybrid Infrastructure for the third consecutive year. VMware’s blog detailed this recognition, emphasizing VCF’s ability to deliver public cloud scale with private cloud security and resilience.
The general availability of VCF 9.0 in June 2025 represents a significant update, designed to support traditional, modern, and AI workloads. VCF 9.0 aims to streamline operations, enhance security, and provide agility comparable to public clouds, all while maintaining control and cost predictability. Updates showcased at VMware Explore 2025 in August 2025 further underscored Broadcom’s commitment to developing a unified AI-native private cloud platform.
Key Takeaways
- Widespread Migration: 86% of organizations are actively reducing their VMware footprint.
- Cloud Adoption: Public cloud IaaS is the primary destination for migrated workloads (72%), followed by Microsoft’s Hyper-V/Azure Stack (43%).
- Migration Challenges: Multi-platform complexity (52%) and skills gaps (33%) are the biggest obstacles to successful migration.
- Broadcom’s Strategy: Broadcom appears to be prioritizing value from remaining customers while accepting a degree of churn.
- Continued Investment in VCF: Broadcom continues to invest in VMware Cloud Foundation, aiming to provide a competitive private cloud solution.
The ongoing shift away from VMware is reshaping the virtualization landscape, driving increased adoption of public cloud services and alternative virtualization platforms. While the migration process presents challenges, organizations are increasingly prioritizing flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and the ability to adapt to evolving business needs. The next key date to watch is the release of Broadcom’s Q1 2026 earnings report, expected in March, which will provide further insight into the financial impact of these migration trends.
What are your thoughts on the future of VMware and the broader virtualization market? Share your insights and experiences in the comments below.
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