Once a poor "skinny kid" from Malaysia, Hock Tan was going head-to-head with a legendary U.S. technology mogul for a transformative acquisition. Broadcom Inc AVGO.O, the chip maker that Tan leads, was willing to acquire VMware, a cloud software company for $61 billion. Dell, who personally owns 40% of VMware and controls it together with buyout firm Silver Lake, had a decision to make. It was Silver Lake that helped recruit Tan as chief executive of the company that would go on to become Broadcom. A spate of deals followed as Tan embarked on consolidating the semiconductor industry, often with backing from Silver Lake.
