Broadcom

Broadcom is a semiconductor and infrastructure-software conglomerate that has become one of AI's most important suppliers through two channels: co-designing custom AI accelerators (ASICs) for hyperscalers, and supplying the networking switches that connect GPU clusters. It is the design partner behind Google's TPUs and custom silicon programs at other major AI buyers, making it a structural beneficiary of the shift toward bespoke chips.

Today's Broadcom is the product of a series of large acquisitions led by CEO Hock Tan, combining the former Avago, Broadcom, and enterprise-software assets including VMware. Its business spans semiconductors and infrastructure software, but the AI story is concentrated in custom silicon and networking.

Broadcom co-develops application-specific accelerators (XPUs) with hyperscalers that want alternatives to merchant GPUs — most prominently Google's TPU line, and reportedly custom-chip programs with other large AI companies including a multi-billion-dollar engagement tied to OpenAI. Its Tomahawk and Jericho switch silicon is core to the high-bandwidth fabrics that link tens of thousands of accelerators.

Because every hyperscaler pursuing custom silicon needs a design and networking partner, Broadcom captures value regardless of which merchant GPU wins, and management's guidance for AI revenue has repeatedly reset expectations upward. It sits alongside NVIDIA as one of the two most valuable semiconductor franchises of the AI era.