Qualcomm pivots to AI data centers, targeting 30% of revenue by 2029

Qualcomm is shifting strategy as smartphone sales dropped 20% compared to 2025. The company announced during its Q4 2026 earnings call that it expects AI data center chips to eventually account for 30% of its business, supported by partnerships with Amazon and Meta announced earlier this year. Total 2026 revenue was $10.4 billion.

Key points

• Qualcomm forecasts $650 million in data center revenue for Q1 2027, growing to $5 billion by end of 2027 and $15 billion by 2029
• Data center chips are expected to reach around 30% of total company business
• The pivot comes as smartphone sales tanked by approximately 20% year-over-year
• Partnerships with Amazon and Meta are driving the data center expansion
• AMD, by comparison, expects over 80% of its revenue to eventually come from data centers

How to use it

• Organizations evaluating AI infrastructure vendors now have another major chip supplier entering the data center space alongside established players
• Companies currently using Qualcomm chips in mobile or edge devices may want to explore their expanding data center AI offerings
• The aggressive revenue projections and major partnerships suggest increased competition and potentially more options for AI compute at scale

Has anyone evaluated Qualcomm's data center chips for AI workloads yet?