Alphabet acquired a stake in Qualcomm worth approximately $548 million (€491 million) in the third quarter. With this strategic investment, the company aims to support Qualcomm’s expansion into data centre technology. The investment comes at a crucial time for the chipmaker, which is seeking to diversify its revenue streams as the mobile phone industry experiences a significant downturn.
Although Qualcomm has traditionally supplied the hardware for the majority of Android devices, its partnership with Google has evolved. They recently collaborated on Googlebooks, Google’s new premium laptop range powered by Qualcomm processors. In 2024, they also reached an agreement to develop chips and software for AI applications in the automotive industry.
Alphabet’s investment aligns with Qualcomm’s ambition to secure a prominent role in the AI infrastructure market. To reduce reliance on expensive Nvidia hardware and meet demand for custom AI processors, Qualcomm has spent the past year offering its bespoke solutions to cloud computing companies.
The company has set itself a target of generating $15 billion (€13.4 billion) in data centre revenue by 2029.
Other industry leaders have already shown similar confidence in Qualcomm’s direction. Microsoft and Meta have placed orders for the company’s data centre chips, and Qualcomm signed an agreement with Amazon in September. That agreement allows Amazon to purchase up to $60 billion (€53.8 billion) worth of AI-related products and includes warrants to purchase shares.
Google also announced that it had slightly increased its investment in SpaceX, bringing the number of shares it holds from 551.2 million to approximately 555 million.
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