Qualcomm, Amazon to develop custom chips for AI data centers

Qualcomm unveiled a partnership with Amazon on Tuesday, spanning multiple product generations, to co-develop custom chips tailored for the e-commerce company's artificial-intelligence data centers, according to a Reuters report.

The San Diego, California-based chipmaker saw its shares climb more than 9% in premarket trading. Its stock has declined roughly 1% over the course of this year, as a rebound in August only partially offset steep losses driven by softer smartphone demand.

The two companies will join forces on chips designed for AI inference, a rapidly expanding segment centered on executing trained AI models. That area has emerged as a critical competitive arena among semiconductor companies.

Qualcomm and Amazon also plan to develop high-speed optical connectivity solutions, including technologies capable of reaching 1.6 terabits per second, aimed at supporting the escalating bandwidth requirements of AI data centers.

Under the collaboration, Qualcomm intends to broaden its usage of Amazon Web Services' AI services and infrastructure for chip design workloads, with the goal of shortening product development timelines.