Tesco, a UK supermarket giant, is suing Broadcom and Computacenter over a breach of VMware license contracts, which are critical to its IT infrastructure supporting ~40,000 server workloads, including store tills and supply chain operations. Broadcom’s refusal to provide support for perpetual VMware licenses (vSphere, Cloud Foundation) and withholding security patches/upgrades (e.g., Cloud Foundation 9) threatens Tesco’s ability to maintain grocery supply chains across the UK and Ireland. The dispute risks operational disruptions—potentially halting food distribution—while Tesco claims damages exceeding £100M (+ interest), escalating over time. Replacing VMware would be cost-prohibitive and high-risk, given its deep integration. The case mirrors broader industry conflicts (e.g., AT&T, Siemens) over Broadcom’s shift to subscription-only models, forcing customers into inflated costs or unsupported legacy systems. Tesco’s dependency on VMware for resilience makes this a high-stakes legal and operational crisis, with broader implications for critical retail infrastructure.