Qualcomm launches new AI chips in 2026, accelerating the push for data centers

In an effort to broaden its business beyond smartphones and penetrate the expanding AI infrastructure sector, Qualcomm launched two AI processors for data centers on Monday. These chips will be commercially available beginning next year.

Following the news, Qualcomm’s stock increased by around 15%.

The new processors, called AI200 and AI250, will be on the market in 2026 and 2027, respectively, and are intended to increase memory capacity and execute AI applications (inference).

As cloud providers, chip manufacturers, and businesses compete to develop infrastructure that can support sophisticated and extensive language models, chatbots, and other generative AI tools, global investment in AI processors has surged.

In June, Qualcomm agreed to pay about $2.4 billion to acquire Alphawave, a firm that develops semiconductor technologies for data centers, in order to bolster its AI portfolio.

Qualcomm also declared in May that it will produce customized CPUs for data centers that connect to the company’s AI chips via Nvidia technology.

Qualcomm said that the new chips will lower businesses’ total cost of ownership (TCO) and are interoperable with popular AI frameworks and tools with sophisticated software support.