Qualcomm and Amazon Forge $60 Billion Custom Silicon Deal for AI Data Centers
21 Sources
[1]
Amazon ropes Qualcomm into something, something AI, networking chips
Amazon Web Services on Tuesday tapped mobile chip titan and aspiring datacenter SoC maker Qualcomm to develop "customized" silicon for AI inference and 1.6 Tbps optical networking gear to tie it all together, though it offered few details. Amazon's purchases and other commercial commitments under
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Qualcomm, Amazon to develop custom chips for AI data centers
Sept 8 (Reuters) - Qualcomm (QCOM.O), opens new tab announced a collaboration with Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab on Tuesday, spanning several product generations, to develop custom chips for the e-commerce giant's AI data centers. Shares of the San Diego, California-based chipmaker rose more than
[3]
Qualcomm hands Amazon $4B of warrants to build custom silicon for AWS
The deal ties multiple generations of custom silicon to AWS, while Europe's own data centre processor is still in bring-up and headed for a supercomputer Qualcomm has issued Amazon warrants over 25 million shares worth about $4B, vesting against commercial milestones and up to $60B of server chip
[4]
Qualcomm inks deal with Amazon to build AI data center infrastructure
Qualcomm Technologies Inc. is collaborating with Amazon to enable customized silicon at scale for large-scale AI data centers, working together on AI inference. In addition, the companies are working on optical connectivity solutions extending up to 1.6T and future-generation solutions. "As AI
[5]
Qualcomm signs $4 billion "multi-generational" data center and AI deal with AWS
Amazon will be using Qualcomm hardware to power future data centers * Qualcomm to help build custom silicon and optical networking for AWS data centers * Amazon will acquire 25 million Qualcomm shares, worth over $4 billion * AWS data centers are more efficient than the industry average, but
[6]
Qualcomm lands Amazon deal to build custom AI data center chips
The partnership focuses on inference workloads and spans multiple generations of customized silicon for AWS infrastructure Qualcomm $QCOM announced a partnership with Amazon $AMZN Web Services on Tuesday to develop custom chips for AI data center infrastructure, sending Qualcomm stock up 10%. The
[7]
Qualcomm inks AI chip, optical networking deal with Amazon
Qualcomm Inc. today announced that it has won a contract to supply Amazon.com Inc. with artificial intelligence chips and networking hardware. The deal is part of a broader partnership that also extends to other areas. Qualcomm has issued a stock warrant that will enable Amazon to buy up to 25
[8]
Qualcomm Shares Climb on Amazon AI Infrastructure Deal
Get personalized, AI-powered answers built on 27+ years of trusted expertise. Qualcomm's stock is getting a lift after the chipmaker announced a new partnership with Amazon. Shares of Qualcomm (QCOM) were up about 3% Tuesday afternoon after the firm announced it was collaborating with Amazon
[9]
Qualcomm-Amazon AI deal: Why the chipmaker's stock surged - Qualcomm lands major Amazon AI deal
Qualcomm-Amazon AI deal: Why the chipmaker's stock surged 1/12 Qualcomm lands major Amazon AI deal Qualcomm has struck a long-term partnership with Amazon to develop custom chips for large-scale AI data centres, marking a major step in its push beyond smartphones and into the rapidly growing AI
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Amazon Gives Qualcomm a Major AI Boost With $60B Custom Chip Deal -- Analyst Calls It a 'Huge $QCOM Win' -
Patrick Moorhead, CEO and Founder of MoorInsightsStrategy, called the agreement between Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) and Amazon.com Inc.'s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Amazon Web Services a "net-net huge $QCOM win" as the semiconductor company expands into data center compute while diversifying away from Apple
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Qualcomm strikes AI chip deal with Amazon, offers right to buy about $4 billion in stock
The deal also highlights increasingly intertwined financing in the AI boom, with Qualcomm granting Amazon warrants worth about $4 billion that vest with product purchases and allow the cloud giant to buy shares at a fixed price of $161.26 apiece, according to a regulatory filing. Qualcomm on
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Qualcomm Stock Rises After Multi-Generation AI Chip Deal With Amazon - Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM)
Qualcomm Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) shares are trading higher Tuesday after the company announced a multi-generation product collaboration with Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) to build next-generation AI data center infrastructure. * Qualcomm stock is among today's top performers. Why is QCOM stock
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Qualcomm's $60 billion deal reveals what comes after smartphones
Qualcomm has spent years trying to convince investors it can become more than a smartphone chip company. Amazon may have just given it the biggest proof point yet. Amazon (AMZN) can purchase up to $60 billion worth of Qualcomm's (QCOM) AI data center chips, systems, technology, and manufacturing
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Qualcomm's new Amazon deal sent the stock soaring 9%
Cristiano Amon spent months talking about a customer he would not name. On Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM)'s fiscal second-quarter earnings call in April, the CEO said the company would begin shipping data center chips to "a large hyperscaler" within the calendar year, according to CNBC. At
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StoneX reiterates Qualcomm stock buy rating on Amazon partnership By Investing.com
Investing.com - StoneX reiterated a buy rating and $270.00 price target on Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) following the chipmaker's announcement of a partnership with Amazon. According to InvestingPro analysis, the stock appears undervalued at current levels, with shares trading at $174.09 against a
[16]
Bernstein reiterates Qualcomm stock rating on Amazon AI deal By Investing.com
Investing.com - Bernstein SocGen Group reiterated a Market Perform rating and $165.00 price target on Qualcomm shares (NASDAQ:QCOM) following the company's announcement of a partnership with Amazon. The stock currently trades at $174.09, and according to InvestingPro analysis, remains undervalued
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Qualcomm, Amazon Sign AI Infrastructure Partnership Deal -- Update
Qualcomm Technologies and Amazon have agreed to collaborate on developing customized silicon and high-bandwidth optical interconnectivity for Amazon's artificial intelligence data centers. The collaboration brings together Amazon's comprehensive, secure AI infrastructure with Qualcomm
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Qualcomm at Goldman Sachs conference: Amazon deal boosts data center push By Investing.com
Tuesday, 08 September 2026 -- Qualcomm (QCOM) used the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference 2026 to outline a broader shift away from its smartphone roots, led by a new partnership with Amazon and faster growth in automotive and other markets. Management struck a confident tone, but
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Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and Amazon.com, Inc. Announce Multi-Generational Product Collaboration to Build Next-Generation AI Data Center Infrastructure
Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. announced a multi-generation collaboration with Amazon.com, Inc. to enable customized silicon at scale for large-scale AI data centers, working together on AI inference. In addition, the companies are working on optical connectivity solutions extending up to 1.6T and
[20]
Qualcomm stock surges 9.5% on Amazon AI deal & 25M share warrant By Investing.com
Investing.com -- Qualcomm Technologies (NASDAQ: QCOM) shares spiked 9.5% following the announcement of a multi-generational collaboration with Amazon to build customized silicon and ultra-fast optical connectivity solutions for AI data centers. Under the agreement, Qualcomm will issue a warrant to
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Qualcomm, Amazon Sign AI Infrastructure Partnership Deal
Qualcomm Technologies and Amazon have agreed to collaborate on developing customized silicon and high-bandwidth optical interconnectivity for Amazon's artificial intelligence data centers. The collaboration brings together Amazon's comprehensive, secure AI infrastructure with Qualcomm
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Qualcomm has struck a multi-generational partnership with Amazon to develop custom silicon for AI inference and 1.6 Tbps optical networking technology. The deal includes $4 billion in warrants and could total up to $60 billion in commercial commitments through 2036, marking Qualcomm's major push into data center infrastructure.
Qualcomm Amazon Partnership Unlocks Major AI Data Centers Expansion
Qualcomm has announced a sweeping multi-generational custom silicon agreement with Amazon Web Services that could reshape the AI data center infrastructure landscape. The partnership, unveiled on Tuesday, involves developing customized chips for AI inference and high-performance optical connectivity solutions extending to 1.6 Tbps.
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Amazon's purchases and commercial commitments under this arrangement could reach up to $60 billion through September 2036.1
Source: TechRadar
As part of the deal structure, Qualcomm issued warrants allowing Amazon to acquire 25 million shares at $161.26 each, representing a $4 billion position.
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These warrants vest in tranches tied to commercial milestones and server chip purchases, expiring on September 3, 2036.3
Qualcomm shares surged more than 9% in premarket trading following the announcement, offering relief to investors after the stock slipped about 1% earlier this year due to weaker smartphone demand.2
Custom Chips for AI Data Centers Target Inference Workloads
The collaboration centers on developing custom silicon specifically optimized for AI inference, a fast-growing market focused on running trained AI models that has become a key battleground among semiconductor firms.
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While details remain sparse, the arrangement could involve fully custom silicon, chiplets, or customized versions of Qualcomm's emerging datacenter accelerator portfolio.1
Source: Interesting Engineering
Qualcomm's AI250-series Dragonfly rack systems, expected to launch next year, employ an innovative approach to address memory bandwidth bottlenecks in AI workloads. The technology swaps expensive high-bandwidth memory for what Qualcomm calls "high-bandwidth compute," achieving higher effective memory bandwidth using cheaper LPDDR memory by shifting compute to the memory's base die.
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This approach mirrors how Intel builds customized Xeon 6 processors for AWS, suggesting Qualcomm may deliver tailored versions of its AI250-series chips to the cloud provider.1
Qualcomm is also developing the C1000 datacenter CPU, which the company claims will reach 5 GHz and scale beyond 250 cores when it arrives in the second half of 2028.
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The chipmaker previously unveiled the Dragonfly C1000 data center processor in June with Meta as a customer from 2028, setting a $15 billion data center revenue target for fiscal 2029.3
High-Performance Optical Connectivity Addresses AI Infrastructure Bottlenecks
Beyond custom silicon, the AI infrastructure collaboration tackles a critical challenge facing modern AI data centers: moving massive volumes of data between thousands of interconnected computing devices. Qualcomm will supply serializer-deserializers and optical digital signal processors to boost port speeds to 1.6 Tbps, likely leveraging technology acquired through the purchase of Alphawave Semi late last year.
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High-speed optical interconnects have emerged as a major supply chain hurdle for scaling AI infrastructure, particularly as compute expands from racks with a few dozen accelerators to hundreds or thousands spanning multiple racks.
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The partnership points to AWS expanding its supply chain to include Qualcomm as a source of optical pluggables, or potentially near- or co-packaged optics.1
"As AI demand accelerates, data center infrastructure will require advances in both computing and connectivity to deliver greater performance with more efficiency," said Cristiano Amon, President and CEO of Qualcomm Incorporated.
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AWS VP Prasad Kalyanaraman added, "By working together on customized silicon and advanced connectivity, we're delivering more performant, efficient, and cost-effective infrastructure for our customers."5
Source: The Register
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Strategic Implications for Power Efficiency and Market Position
The collaboration brings together Amazon's comprehensive AI infrastructure with Qualcomm's expertise in power-efficient processing, silicon design, and system-level integration.
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This focus on power efficiency carries significant weight as data centers face mounting pressure to reduce resource consumption. In Amazon's 2025 sustainability report, the company declared a global average Power Usage Effectiveness of 1.14, nearly 9% better than the public cloud industry average of 1.25, though still trailing Google's fleet-wide average of 1.09.5
The customer-supplier relationship operates bidirectionally. While AWS acquires Qualcomm's chip technology, Qualcomm plans to expand its use of Amazon Bedrock platform for electronic design automation workloads, targeting a reduction in chip design cycles.
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Bank of America expects the server processor market to more than double from $27 billion in 2025 to $60 billion by 2030, with Nvidia, Intel, and AMD all competing aggressively.3
Qualcomm's commitment to AWS arrives as the chipmaker pursues broader data center ambitions. The company was in talks to acquire Modular, an AI infrastructure software company, for approximately $4 billion in June.
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Qualcomm is also one of three chipmakers, alongside Nvidia and AMD, that signed memoranda to supply the EU's AI gigafactories, a program covering up to seven sites and roughly EUR 30 billion, of which EUR 10 billion is public and approximately EUR 1 billion from Brussels is actually committed.3
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