Broadcom Inc. is a top five global fabless semiconductor company with leading franchises in wired and wireless communications, enterprise data center and storage, and other end markets. The former Avago acquired Broadcom for $37 billion in 2016 and changed its name to Broadcom Inc. The company has grown via hardware acquisitions, including Agere, LSI Logic, Brocade, and Emulex; and software acquisitions, including CA Inc. in November 2018 and Symantec's enterprise security business in November 2019. Broadcom completed the acquisition of VMware in December 2023.

The major indices are higher at midday. Wall Street continues to monitor the bond market and the stability of yields. A consensus is growing that interest rates are heading higher. Also on the watch list, the August nonfarm payrolls report is due out tomorrow morning. Crude oil continues to rise and is at $92 per barrel. The yield on the 10-year note is at 4.76%.

Broadcom is one of the largest semiconductor companies in the world and has also expanded into infrastructure software. Its semiconductors primarily serve computing and networking, with custom AI accelerators now accounting for the bulk of the business. It is primarily a fabless designer, but holds some manufacturing in-house, such as for its best-of-breed film bulk acoustic resonator filters that sell into the Apple iPhone. In software, it sells virtualization, infrastructure, and security software to large enterprises, financial institutions, and governments. Broadcom is the product of consolidation. Its businesses are an amalgamation of former companies like legacy Broadcom and Avago Technologies in chips, as well as VMware, Brocade, CA Technologies, and Symantec in software.

Berkshire Hathaway is a holding company with a wide array of subsidiaries engaged in diverse activities. The firm's core business segment is insurance, run primarily through Geico, Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group, and Berkshire Hathaway Primary Group. Berkshire has used the excess cash thrown off from its operations to acquire Burlington Northern Santa Fe (railroad), Berkshire Hathaway Energy (utilities and energy distributors), and the companies that make up its manufacturing, service, and retailing operations (which include Precision Castparts, Lubrizol, Clayton Homes, Marmon, and IMC/ISCAR). The conglomerate is unique in that it is run on a completely decentralized basis. Berkshire generated close to $371.4 billion in operating revenue in during 2025.