T-Mobile moving tens of thousands of virtual machines off VMware amid lawsuit

T-Mobile has filed a lawsuit in New York seeking a court ruling that Broadcom is contractually obligated to continue supporting its perpetual VMware licenses. The company is also in the process of migrating tens of thousands of virtual machines away from the VMware environment, a move that coincides with the legal action.

T-Mobile stated in its complaint that it utilizes VMware software across approximately 303,140 CPU cores, supporting tens of thousands of virtual machines. The company has initiated a migration away from VMware, acknowledging the time-consuming and technically challenging nature of relocating over 1,000 applications.

The lawsuit, initially reported by The Register, was filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York in August 2025. This legal dispute highlights the complexities businesses face with software licensing agreements, particularly following acquisitions where support terms and integration can shift significantly.

Looking ahead, T-Mobile is expected to continue diversifying its software infrastructure to reduce dependency on single vendors. The decision to move away from VMware could influence similar decisions by other large enterprises, raising broader questions about the future of software licensing and vendor relationships in the technology sector.