The UK's competition regulator, The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it has launched a Phase-1 investigation into the headline US$61bn (£49bn) merger between semiconductor manufacturer Broadcom Inc and cloud-computing company VMWare.
Broadcom first announced the proposed merger in May 2022 as a means of diversifying its technology portfolio.
But as is common in the technology sector, the CMA has raised concerns on anti-competition grounds.
The probe follows a similar action announced by the European Commission last month, when vice president Margrethe Vestager stated: "We are concerned that after the merger, Broadcom could prevent its hardware rivals to interoperate with VMware’s server virtualisation software. This would lead to higher prices, lower quality and less innovation for customers and consumers."
Tech deals often face intense regulatory scrutiny due to the influence they can exert over user data and access to digital infrastructure.
In a high-profile example, Meta Platforms Inc - formerly Facebook - was strong-armed by the CMA into disposing of Giphy last year after acquiring the digital images database for a nine-figure sum in 2020.
The deadline for the CMA’s Phase-1 decision is pegged for March 22.