Meet the most ruthless CEO in the trillion-dollar tech club

THE BOSSES of America’s trillion-dollar technology giants represent two CEO archetypes. Besides the sexy AI processors, Broadcom sells everything from worthy but dull wireless-networking chips to equally worthy and duller “virtualisation" software for managing company IT systems across in-house servers and the computing cloud. Asked in an interview in 2023 whether he had an overarching strategy for its 23 divisions, Mr Tan responded with characteristic candour: “The answer, I hate to say, is ‘no’." In early December, while accepting a lifetime-achievement award from the Global Semiconductor Alliance, a trade body, Mr Tan chastised his industry for being “naive" in accepting a 20% decline in chip prices every year even as car prices rose 10%. Mr Tan, for his part, will want to reduce Broadcom’s reliance on AI chips.