It is thought that any deal would cost Broadcom about $10 billion. Shares of Symantec, which has a market value of $12.63 billion, rose 14 oercent in extended trading, while those of Broadcom fell a percent.

Symantec last month walked away from negotiations to sell itself to Broadcom over price disagreements, but at the same time it has been having problems seeing off competition and several top level executives left the company this year, while it is being investigated by US regulators over an accounting irregularity.

This new deal is a scaled-down version of a buyout.