# Hock Tan

CEO, Broadcom. TIME100 AI 2026, Leaders. Broadcom's CEO was once a vice president at Commodore, the 1980s home computer maker founded by Jack Tramiel. ([en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hock_Tan))

- Born: Penang, Malaya ([en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hock_Tan))
- Education: MS, Mechanical engineering, MIT, 1975; BS, Mechanical engineering, MIT, 1975; MBA, Harvard University ([en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hock_Tan), [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/in/hock-tan))
- Career: Broadcom (President and CEO, 2006 to now); Integrated Circuit Systems (President and CEO, 1994–2005); Commodore International (Vice President of Finance, 1992–1994); Pacven Investment (Managing Director and co-founder); Hume Industries (Director); PepsiCo (Finance roles); General Motors (Finance roles) ([broadcom.com](https://www.broadcom.com/company/about-us/executives/hock-e-tan), [en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hock_Tan))
- TIME profile: https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/hock-tan/
- Profile: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/most-influential-people-in-ai/hock-tan

- Left Penang for MIT on a scholarship in 1971 and earned both a bachelor's and a master's in mechanical engineering in 1975. ([en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hock_Tan))
- Worked in finance at General Motors and PepsiCo, then went home to Malaysia and later ran a Singapore venture capital firm he co-founded. ([en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hock_Tan))
- Was vice president of finance at Commodore, the home computer maker, from 1992 to 1994. ([broadcom.com](https://www.broadcom.com/company/about-us/executives/hock-e-tan))
- Bid $117 billion for rival Qualcomm in 2017, which would have been the biggest tech deal ever, until the US government blocked it in 2018. ([en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hock_Tan))
- Broadcom's custom AI chip business started with Google, co-developing the tensor processing units first deployed in 2015. ([time.com](https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/hock-tan/))
- Compared companies' AI spending to a kid who burns $10 of arcade tokens in 10 minutes and learns nothing. ([qz.com](https://qz.com/broadcom-ceo-hock-tan-ai-investors-casino-gamblers-101226))