New York, February 23, 2026, 10:59 (ET) — Regular session
Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) climbed roughly 0.4% to $333.83 by late morning Monday, with the stock bouncing from $328.18 to $338.39 earlier on. Shares kicked off the session at $332.51, and so far, volume is running near 4.2 million.
It’s a minor shift, but the timing stings. Chip stocks are still searching for solid ground, and Broadcom sits right at the crossroads—data-center spend, telecom capex, and enterprise software budgets all in play.
Broadcom’s shares are feeling the push and pull of both political headlines and heavyweight AI hardware players. After President Donald Trump rolled out a fresh 15% global tariff—this coming right after a Supreme Court decision on Friday that struck down most of his prior tariffs—U.S. stocks slid. “You simply can’t bet against Trump. He wants tariffs, and he’s going to find a way to implement them,” said Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill Capital LLC. Nvidia, meanwhile, gained ground heading into its quarterly results on Wednesday, according to Reuters. Reuters
Broadcom investors are laser-focused: cloud clients’ appetite for AI infrastructure remains front and center, and there’s scrutiny on whether networking silicon keeps expanding as spending tightens. Miss the signals, and patience runs thin.
The software angle brings its own complexity. Broadcom’s infrastructure software business, centered on VMware, now binds the company closer to the spending cycles of corporate IT — where contract renewals and price points can matter just as much as moving chips out the door.
Broadcom rolled out its BroadPeak radio digital front-end SoC last week, pitching it for next-gen 5G Advanced and the early wave of 6G wireless equipment. The company says the chip is built for massive MIMO setups—those hefty antenna arrays that help networks handle more traffic—and can slash power consumption by as much as 40% compared to current options. “The BroadPeak SoC … [delivers] up to 40% greater efficiency for next-generation base stations,” said Vijay Janapaty, who heads Broadcom’s Physical Layer Products Division as vice president and general manager. GlobeNewswire
The upside here remains razor-thin—hardly a new story. Broadcom flagged back in December that its rising sales of lower-margin custom AI processors were putting pressure on its bottom line, a clear signal that heftier AI revenue doesn’t always boost margins. “Right now, the spending intentions still seem so big by so many, hitting that panic button is premature,” said Ben Reitzes, analyst at Melius Research. Reuters
Tariffs just pile on, particularly for hardware supply chains and those customers with heavy buying cycles. With policy details still fuzzy, traders usually react fast—then figure out the rest after.
AVGO traders are eyeing the company’s next earnings release—Broadcom will post its first-quarter fiscal 2026 numbers after the bell on March 4. The conference call kicks off at 5 p.m. ET.
