Broadcom Forces More Changes to Azure VMware Service

• License-included Azure VMware Solution reserved instances will be retired in Aug. 2027, regardless of the remaining balance in the existing reservation term.
• This change is due to Broadcom licensing changes that apply to all hyperscalers and will require customers to bring their own VMware licenses.
• Customers who want to keep using AVS need to exchange their reserved instances for new ones, as well as purchase VMware licenses from Broadcom.
• This means that AVS reserved instances purchased before Oct. 2025 are no longer a safe haven from this or any future Broadcom price increases.

Effective Sept. 1, 2027, Azure VMware Solution (AVS) reserved instances that were purchased under “license-included” conditions prior to Oct. 15, 2025, will be retired regardless of remaining term. This potentially impacts customers who committed to three- and five-year reserved instances of the service. Customers will now need to take two steps to continue using their existing AVS nodes. First, customers will need to exchange their license-included AVS reserved instances for bring-your-own-license (BYOL) AVS reserved instances. Second, customers will need to purchase their own portable VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) licenses from Broadcom, rather than relying on the VMware rights Microsoft had bundled in license-included reserved instances. Alternately, customers can apply for refunds of the remaining term of their reserved instances and examine other VMware or hypervisor hosting options.