Qualcomm aims to challenge Nvidia's dominance in AI chips, anticipating its data center AI component annual sales to exceed $15 billion in fiscal year 2029.

BlockBeats news, June 27, according to Fortune, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon is attempting to shift the company from its reliance on smartphone chips to diversified businesses such as AI chips, automotive, PC, smart home, and wearable devices, with the next focus on the data center AI chip market, challenging Nvidia's long-standing dominance. At an investor day event held in Manhattan this Wednesday, Qualcomm unveiled its latest AI accelerator and CPU product lines. Amon stated that people often doubt whether Qualcomm is too late in the fiercely competitive AI chip market, but he said, "It's never too late for Qualcomm."

Qualcomm expects its data center AI components annual sales to exceed $15 billion by fiscal year 2029. Driven by this, Qualcomm's stock price jumped by as much as 15% on Wednesday, but by Friday, most of the gains had been lost due to sell-offs of large tech stocks on the Nasdaq. Qualcomm also forecasts that by 2029, its annual revenue from non-smartphone businesses will reach $40 billion, twice the long-term forecast from two years ago, indicating the company's efforts to reduce dependence on smartphone chips are progressing. Amon pointed out that public concerns about the enormous energy consumption of AI and data centers provide opportunities for Qualcomm, enabling it to differentiate itself through products such as high energy-efficient CPUs.

In addition, Qualcomm announced this week the $3.9 billion acquisition of AI software company Modular, aiming to gain a software platform that can compete with Nvidia CUDA. CUDA enables developers to build AI programs and fully leverage Nvidia GPUs, which is a key reason why many developers remain part of Nvidia's ecosystem; Modular is seen as Qualcomm's attempt to weaken Nvidia's software advantage. Amon stated that Qualcomm possesses a strong engineering culture and is not afraid to embrace new challenges. He said the company has repeatedly advanced business restructuring since 2021, including in automotive, PC chips, and industrial applications, and is now entering a similar phase.