Qualcomm is the latest entrant in the AI chip manufacturing race. Could it gradually become a potential household name?
Qualcomm is introducing new AI accelerator chips in a bid to rival NVIDIA, the long-standing semiconductor industry forerunner. And its stocks soared 11% after this announcement. Maybe because it was unexpected.
It’s not quite a simple feat for Qualcomm. Until now, the company has been focusing on semiconductors for mobile and wireless connectivity.
Data centers were nowhere in view. But Qualcomm is now diving in. Specifically, to keep pace with its rivals, NVIDIA and AMD. These market share dominators have already dipped their toes into the most happening innovation in the market right now- AI. They knew how to make a bang for their bucks.
Qualcomm is late to the game since these two have made their strides.
But Qualcomm is ambitious.
The agenda is to launch two different chips- AI200 and AI250 in 2026 and 2027. These chips leverage the AI segments from its smartphone chips, known as the Hexagon NPUs.
These data center chips will focus on inference, or running the AI models instead of training them. And this is precisely how AI giants such as OpenAI develop new capabilities, i.e., by processing data.
Qualcomm will also offer its customers the opportunity to mix and match. It’ll sell parts and the AI chips separately, especially for those who are comfortable designing their own racks.
Qualcomm isn’t focused on short-term gains. It is confident.
The semiconductor powerhouse’s AI cards hold more memory (786 gigabytes) than NVIDIA and AMD. And it is already far ahead of the two in terms of ownership cost, power consumption, and memory management.
So, what it’s actually planning to do is upgrade its own capabilities and then gradually go up to the data center levels. Their priority for now is leveling themselves up in other domains centered on AI.
And not take a leap of faith from the get-go.
Every tech-centered business realizes the demand for anything directly related to AI server farms. NVIDIA has been dominating. But Qualcomm’s entry marks new competition in one of the fastest-growing markets.
This detailed focus on a long-term vision is commendable. And has so far managed to redirect Qualcomm’s mission.
Could Qualcomm end up becoming the better alternative to NVIDIA’s chips? Only time will tell.
