Key Takeaways
- QCOM shares climbed approximately 4% during Tuesday’s pre-market session following rumors of an $8B–$10B Tenstorrent acquisition
- Acquiring Tenstorrent would strengthen Qualcomm’s data-center strategy and add legendary chip designer Jim Keller to its team
- CEO Cristiano Amon disclosed that Qualcomm is developing over 40 AI-powered device designs, spanning wearables to smart eyewear
- The company’s June 24 investor presentation may unveil data-center revenue projections of $3B+ by 2027 and $35B by 2031
- Analyst consensus remains at “Hold” for QCOM, with a mean price target of $184.36
Qualcomm shares surged approximately 4% during Tuesday’s pre-market trading session, reaching $228.09, as investors reacted to dual catalysts — reports of a major acquisition target and the CEO’s expansive vision for AI hardware.
This upward momentum extends an already strong performance. Over the past three months, QCOM has soared 68%, with year-to-date gains hovering around 30%.
The primary catalyst emerged Monday evening when The Information disclosed that Qualcomm is engaged in discussions to purchase AI chip developer Tenstorrent for a valuation between $8 billion and $10 billion. As of Tuesday morning, neither organization had issued statements regarding the report.
Tenstorrent specializes in creating accelerators designed for AI model training and inference workloads. The startup contends that its silicon delivers superior efficiency for specific AI operations compared to conventional GPUs manufactured by Nvidia and competitors.
Beyond the technical assets, this potential deal carries significant weight due to Tenstorrent’s leadership. Jim Keller, the company’s CEO, is a legendary chip architect with previous stints at AMD, Apple, and Tesla. Securing his expertise would signal Qualcomm’s serious commitment to the AI chip arena.
Negotiations remain active, and sources indicate that both pricing and deal structure could evolve.
June Investor Event Takes Center Stage
Attention is now shifting to Qualcomm’s investor day presentation scheduled for June 24. J.P. Morgan analyst Samik Chatterjee anticipates the company will unveil data-center revenue objectives surpassing $3 billion for fiscal 2027, with projections climbing to $35 billion by fiscal 2031.
Chatterjee added Qualcomm to his “Positive Catalyst Watch” list while keeping a Neutral rating, pointing to “intensifying competition” and emphasizing the importance of execution against announced goals.
Market watchers also expect Qualcomm to disclose a prominent customer for its customized data-center processors during the presentation.
Amon Outlines Vision for AI Hardware Ecosystem
During an appearance on CNBC’s The Tech Download podcast, CEO Cristiano Amon revealed that Qualcomm has more than 40 AI-enhanced device designs currently in development — including smart jewelry, audio wearables with cameras, pins, and timepieces.
Amon positioned smart glasses as a category with smartphone-level potential. He noted that annual unit shipments already register in the “tens of millions” range and could eventually scale to “hundreds of millions.”
Discussing agentic AI capabilities, Amon predicted that AI agents will progressively manage sophisticated tasks spanning multiple applications and platforms. He illustrated this with an example of an agent instantly retrieving specific banking transaction information without manual user searches.
“Those agents are going to be the new app,” he said.
Qualcomm has been systematically expanding its technology portfolio. In 2024, the company completed the $2.4 billion acquisition of U.K.-based Alphawave Semi, securing technology that accelerates inter-chip data transfer rates.
Investors appear to be overlooking near-term headwinds, including elevated memory component costs affecting smartphone production and the looming risk of losing Apple as a modem client as the tech giant transitions to proprietary chip designs.
The Street’s consensus rating stands at Hold — comprising 19 Hold ratings, 8 Buy recommendations, and 4 Sell ratings — with a collective price target of $184.36, implying potential downside of 16.5% from present trading levels.
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