Qualcomm is evolving from a smartphone chipmaker to a comprehensive AI technology leader. The transition won’t happen overnight, but the strategy appears appealing and the timing is favorable.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said earlier this year that the Washington-based company could shrink its workforce by embracing AI. The firm is part of a cohort of large-cap companies that have seen their AI-related productivity increase as the technology becomes mainstream.

Qualcomm announced new chips for AI data centers on Monday, in a move that could mean more competition for leading AI chipmakers such as Nvidia and AMD.

Available beginning in 2026, the AI200 is both the name of Qualcomm’s individual AI accelerator and the full server rack it slots into, complete with a Qualcomm CPU. The AI250 is Qualcomm’s next-generation AI accelerator and server coming in 2027. A third chip and server are scheduled for 2028.

These are Qualcomm's next-generation AI inference-optimized solutions for data centers, and they bring with them support for gobs of memory.

Qualcomm entered the datacenter AI chip market with 2026-2027 products and a $1 billion Saudi deal despite specs trailing competitors.

The company is launching chip-based AI accelerator cards for AI inference and data center racks, and is counting Saudi Arabian AI firm Humain as its first customer.

Qualcomm has been notably left out of the AI party. A deal with Saudi Arabia seems to have gotten the chip maker a foot in the door. Qualcomm’s share price surged 12% Monday after the company announce