Introduction
On April 10, 2025, Broadcom quietly raised the bar on VMware licensing: every VMware product—from vSphere Foundation to VMware Cloud Foundation—now carries a 72-core minimum per license instance. The familiar 16-core-per-CPU rule still applies, meaning you pay whichever total is higher. For organizations running lightweight or edge workloads, this shift can translate into an immediate 200–350% increase in software spend. As Chief Sales Officer at Cybele Software, I’ve seen firsthand how this “flat-tax” approach catches many teams off-guard. But with proactive planning, strategic consolidation, and the right abstraction tools, you can not only survive the licensing shock—you can turn it into an opportunity for infrastructure modernization.
What Changed on April 10, 2025?
Before the update, VMware’s only licensing floor was 16 cores per socket, ensuring even small servers paid for at least 16 cores. As of April 10, the new rule enforces:- Per-CPU minimum: still 16 cores per socket
- Per-product minimum: now 72 cores per product instance
Example: A host with two 10-core CPUs (20 cores total)
- Old license fee: 16 cores × 2 sockets = 32 cores
- New license fee: 72 cores (you “shelve” 52 unused cores)
Why Broadcom Drew the 72-Core Line
Analysts widely agree that Broadcom’s motives include:- Elevating the entry fee By raising the minimum, smaller customers face a higher “gate” to adopt VMware, shifting attention toward enterprise accounts.
- Promoting bundled products A 72-core minimum makes offerings like VMware Cloud Foundation more cost-effective per core.
- Simplifying SKU management Fewer SKUs and standardized minimums streamline sales and renewals for Broadcom’s teams.
Real-World Cost Impact
| Deployment | Old Cores Billed | New Cores Billed | Cost Increase |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1U edge box (8-core) | 16 | 72 | +350% |
| SMB 3-node cluster | 72 | 216 | +200% |
| Dense host (2×48-core) | 96 | 96 | 0% |
Five Proven Cost-Control Tactics
- Consolidate onto high-core servers Deploy servers with 32–64 cores per socket so each host meets or exceeds the 72-core threshold with fewer licenses.
- Collapse redundant product instances Share vCenter or VMware Cloud Foundation domains across workloads to avoid multiple 72-core minimums.
- Institute monthly license audits Identify idle clusters, stray test environments, and underutilized hosts; power them down or reassign licenses.
- Right-size hardware refreshes When replacing gear, favor CPUs with higher core counts and long-term ROI under the new rules.
- Pilot hypervisor alternatives Explore Microsoft Hyper-V, KVM/Proxmox, or Nutanix AHV to gain negotiation leverage and diversify your virtualization strategy.
Exploring Hypervisor Alternatives
When budgets tighten, alternative platforms can be powerful negotiation tools:
- Microsoft Hyper-V
Included with Windows Server Datacenter—no extra hypervisor licensing required and seamless Active Directory integration. - Proxmox
Open-source and license-free. A steeper learning curve, yes, but unmatched flexibility and a vibrant community. - Public-Cloud Compute
Shifting suitable VMs to AWS EC2, Azure VMs, or Google Compute can eliminate on-prem core licensing—at the expense of cloud optimization work.
Even if you remain primarily on VMware, running small pilots on these platforms gives you critical data points to negotiate better renewals.
Thinfinity Workspace: Decouple Access from Licensing
An effective long-term strategy is to separate application access from hypervisor licensing. That’s where Thinfinity Workspace shines:| Component | Benefit Under 72-Core Rule |
|---|---|
| Thinfinity Workspace | Browser-based portal for Windows, web, and SaaS apps—consistent UX regardless of underlying hypervisor or cloud platform, decoupling user access from core licensing costs. |
| Thinfinity Cloud Manager | Unified control-plane to provision, scale, and cost-track workloads across. |
| Public Clouds: AWS EC2, Azure VMs, Google Compute Engine, OCI Compute, IONOS Cloud | On-Prem Hypervisors: VMware vSphere & VMware Cloud Foundation, Microsoft Hyper-V, Proxmox VE. |
90-Day Action Plan
- Audit & model your current core counts against the new 72-core minimum.
- Consolidate low-core hosts onto denser hardware.
- Stand up a Thinfinity Workspace PoC spanning VMware and an alternative hypervisor.
- Refresh hardware on a core-per-dollar basis where ROI is under 18 months.
- Negotiate renewals armed with pilot insights and alternative platform data.
