San Diego, California – Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) shares climbed as much as 20% on Monday, October 27, 2025, after the company announced its entry into the artificial intelligence (AI) data center market. The move positions Qualcomm to directly challenge Nvidia and AMD with its new AI200 and AI250 accelerator chips. Investors reacted strongly, pushing Qualcomm's stock to a new 52-week high and adding over $30 billion to its market capitalization. ^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]}### Qualcomm's New AI Chips Target Data Centers Qualcomm unveiled two new AI accelerator chips, the AI200 and AI250, designed specifically for data centers. The AI200 is set for commercial availability in 2026, with the more advanced AI250 expected to follow in 2027. T^[1][8][2]hese chips are built to power generative AI inference workloads, which involve running already-trained AI models to generate responses, rather than the initial, more computationally intensive training phase. ^{[2][9][10][11]}The AI200 will feature 768 gigabytes (GB) of LPDDR memory per card, offering high memory capacity for AI inference. T^{[8][2][12][13][3]}he AI250 promises an innovative memory architecture, delivering more than a 10-fold increase in effective memory bandwidth and significantly lower power consumption. B^{[8][2][12][14][11][15]}oth solutions are designed for rack-scale deployment, fitting into liquid-cooled server racks and supporting major AI frameworks. ^{[1][8][16][12][13][17]}Durga Malladi, Qualcomm's Senior Vice President and General Manager of Technology Planning, Edge Solutions & Data Center, stated the company's aim is to redefine rack-scale AI inference. He added that the new solutions empower customers to deploy generative AI with an industry-leading total cost of ownership (TCO), while maintaining flexibility and security. ^[12][18][15]### Challenging Nvidia's Dominance Nvidia currently holds a dominant position, with an estimated 70% to 95% market share in AI accelerators. H^[19][20][21]owever, Qualcomm's entry marks a significant effort to diversify beyond its traditional smartphone chip business and enter the rapidly growing AI infrastructure market. T^{[1][2][16][9]}he global market for AI accelerators was valued at $140 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $267.5 billion in 2025. T^[22]he AI inference market alone is expected to reach $254 billion by 2030. ^[23]Qualcomm's strategy focuses on power efficiency and lower operational costs, which could be appealing to cloud service providers and large enterprises managing escalating AI deployment expenses. Q^{[2][9][3][14][10][4][5]}ualcomm President Cristiano Amon told CNBC that the company aims to make AI "cost-efficient at scale," leveraging its experience in building power-efficient mobile chips. ^[9]### Early Customer Adoption and Market Impact Qualcomm has already secured its first customer for the new chips. Humain, an AI startup backed by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, plans to deploy 200 megawatts of Qualcomm's AI systems starting in 2026. T^{[1][16][13][9][24][25][19][10][4][26]}his significant partnership demonstrates the chips' readiness for enterprise-scale workloads across various sectors. ^[9]Analysts suggest that while Nvidia may maintain its lead in AI training, Qualcomm's focus on inference and its emphasis on cost and power efficiency could allow it to gain a substantial share of the inference market, potentially 10-15% by 2028. J^[27][7]oe Tigay, portfolio manager of the Rational Equity Armor Fund, commented that Qualcomm's entry and the deal with Saudi Arabia prove the AI ecosystem is fragmenting, as no single company can meet the global demand for high-efficiency AI compute. ^[16]### The Road Ahead for Qualcomm Qualcomm's new initiative represents a structural evolution for the company, moving it from a mobile-centric vendor to a diversified AI computing player. T^[4]he company has committed to an annual release cycle for its data center AI roadmap, indicating a long-term commitment to this market. ^[2][12]While integration challenges and the strong pull of Nvidia's CUDA software ecosystem remain, Qualcomm's focus on open frameworks and its proven expertise in power-efficient chip design could help it overcome these hurdles. T^[14]he company's stock, trading at a lower multiple than some AI peers, shows potential for revaluation if its AI segment generates significant revenue in the coming years. ^[27][4][26]Qualcomm's aggressive entry into the AI data center market marks a pivotal moment, signaling its intent to capture a substantial share of the expanding AI infrastructure market and reshape the competitive landscape. ^[3]

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