Tan was born in Penang, Malaysia, in the early 1950s. In 1975, he graduated MIT with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, earning a master's degree in the same subject later in the year. Tan went on to become the CEO of Integrated Circuit Systems Inc. Following numerous acquisitions and sales of the company, he was hired to lead the newly-created Avago as chief executive. In 2015, Tan merged Avago with Broadcom Corporation following an acquisition, leading to the creation of Broadcom Inc. He currently runs the company, holding a long history of corporate transactions (or attempted transactions) with other prominent corporations mainly in the high-technology space.