San Diego, Pratibha Kumari on report — In a bold move set to reshape the global semiconductor industry, Qualcomm announced on Monday its plans to release new artificial intelligence (AI) accelerator chips, directly targeting market giants Nvidia and AMD.
The announcement immediately sent Qualcomm’s stock skyrocketing by 15%, signaling strong investor confidence in the company’s ambitious AI strategy.
Qualcomm’s Big Leap into AI Data Centers – Nvidia vs AMD 2025 | For years, Qualcomm has been best known for designing chips that power smartphones and enable wireless connectivity.
But now, the company is taking a major step into the AI data center market, one of the fastest-growing and most profitable sectors in technology.
The new chips named AI200 and AI250 — are designed to compete head-to-head with Nvidia’s GPUs and AMD’s AI accelerators, both of which currently dominate the AI computing landscape.
Nvidia vs AMD 2025 – Qualcomm confirmed that the AI200 will launch in 2026, followed by the AI250 in 2027.
Both chips will be offered in rack-scale systems, meaning they can fill an entire liquid-cooled server rack similar to Nvidia’s and AMD’s full-rack GPU systems that allow dozens of processors to work together as one powerful AI computer.
Nvidia vs AMD 2025 – Qualcomm says these systems are optimized for AI inferencing, or the process of running AI models, rather than training them from scratch.
Nvidia vs AMD 2025, Durga Malladi: We’re Ready for the Next Level – Durga Malladi, Qualcomm’s General Manager for Data Center and Edge Solutions, told reporters, We first wanted to prove ourselves in other domains, and once we built our strength there, it was pretty easy for us to move up into the data center level.
The AI200 and AI250 chips are built on Qualcomm’s existing Hexagon Neural Processing Units (NPUs) the same powerful AI hardware found in its latest smartphone processors.
This allows Qualcomm to leverage years of innovation from the mobile industry into large-scale AI computing.
Competing with Nvidia and AMD – Currently Nvidia holds more than 90% of the AI chip market, largely because its GPUs are essential for training large language models like OpenAI’s GPT series, which powers ChatGPT.
Nvidia’s dominance has helped push its market capitalization above $4.5 trillion, making it one of the most valuable companies in the world.
However, the AI industry is evolving quickly, and major players like OpenAI, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google are all looking for alternatives to Nvidia’s costly and power-hungry chips.
OpenAI recently announced that it will purchase chips from AMD and may even invest in the company.
Now, Qualcomm is entering the race as a serious third competitor, aiming to attract AI cloud providers, hyperscalers, and enterprise customers who want affordable and energy-efficient solutions.
Nvidia vs AMD 2025 – Qualcomm’s Key Advantage: Efficiency and Cost, One of Qualcomm’s main selling points is power efficiency. The company claims that its new rack-scale systems will consume around 160 kilowatts, roughly the same as Nvidia’s latest GPU racks, but will cost significantly less to operate.
Qualcomm also highlighted innovations in memory architecture. Each AI card can support up to 768 gigabytes of memory, which is higher than current offerings from Nvidia and AMD.
This gives Qualcomm a potential performance edge in AI inference workloads that demand fast access to large amounts of data.
Moreover, Qualcomm said that it will sell both complete rack systems and individual AI chips to clients who want to design their own custom data center configurations. Interestingly,
Qualcomm hinted that even Nvidia and AMD could become customers for certain components such as its central processing units (CPUs) or connectivity systems.
What we have tried to do is make sure that our customers are in a position to either take all of it or say, ‘I’m going to mix and match,’ Malladi added.
Massive Market Opportunity Ahead – Nvidia vs AMD 2025, According to a report by McKinsey & Company, global data center capital expenditures are expected to reach $6.7 trillion by 2030, with the majority focused on AI-based infrastructure.
As companies race to deploy AI-driven services, the demand for powerful yet efficient computing hardware will skyrocket.
This market has been largely controlled by Nvidia, but Qualcomm’s entry introduces fresh competition that could disrupt pricing and supply dynamics. Analysts say this could drive innovation faster and lower costs for AI developers.
Partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Humain – Nvidia vs AMD 2025 – In May 2025, Qualcomm also announced a strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia’s AI firm Humain, which plans to deploy Qualcomm’s inferencing chips in data centers across the Middle East.
The agreement includes a commitment to power up to 200 megawatts of AI systems, showcasing Qualcomm’s growing international footprint in AI infrastructure.
This collaboration positions Qualcomm as a global supplier in the AI inferencing market, especially for regions looking to reduce dependence on U.S. chip leaders like Nvidia.
Stock Market Reaction: Qualcomm Shares Soar 15%, Following Monday’s announcement, Qualcomm’s stock surged by 15% in early trading, its biggest one-day gain in years. Investors see the move into AI data centers as a transformative opportunity for the company, diversifying its revenue beyond mobile devices and 5G chips.
Nvidia vs AMD 2025 – Market experts say that Qualcomm’s entry into the AI race could significantly boost its valuation in the coming years if it can secure even a small percentage of the AI chip market.
The Future of AI Hardware Competition – With Qualcomm now entering the battlefield, the AI hardware landscape is set for an intense three-way fight between Nvidia, AMD, and Qualcomm.

Tech analysts predict that this competition will accelerate innovation in AI computing, reduce energy costs, and make advanced AI systems more widely available.
Nvidia vs AMD 2025 – While Nvidia still leads the way in AI training hardware, Qualcomm’s focus on inference efficiency may open up new market segments especially for AI-powered applications running in clouds, enterprises, and edge devices.
Nvidia vs AMD 2025
Qualcomm’s announcement marks a turning point in the global AI chip race. With its upcoming AI200 and AI250 chips, the company is not just entering a new market, it’s challenging the very foundations of AI computing dominated by Nvidia and AMD.
Nvidia vs AMD 2025 – As the world moves deeper into the AI-driven era, Qualcomm’s innovation could reshape how efficiently and affordably AI models are deployed worldwide.










