QCOM Stock Suffers 3-Day Slide: Short Seller Flags ‘Hidden’ Anthropic Partnership Code — Then Finds Deal Wasn’t Real

• Hunterbrook said it found hidden HTML on Qualcomm’s website referencing Anthropic, but later concluded the partnership was not real.
• The short seller said sources close to both companies confirmed there was no deal, and Qualcomm removed the code after an inquiry.
• Hunterbrook and Citrini scrapped a planned report after verifying that the apparent partnership was due to a website error.

Shares of Qualcomm, Inc. (QCOM) extended their losing streak on Tuesday as a short seller detailed a bizarre website error that appeared to reveal an Anthropic partnership, only to conclude that no such deal existed.

QCOM stock declined 3% on Tuesday, logging its third straight session of losses. 

Hunterbrook Flags Hidden Qualcomm-Anthropic Code 

Hunterbrook Media said on X that it found hidden HTML on Qualcomm’s website describing an apparent collaboration with Anthropic, the AI startup behind Claude. “This weekend, we found something weird: $QCOM had hidden HTML on its website describing a partnership with Anthropic,” Hunterbrook said. “The problem: It’s not real.”

According to the short seller, sources close to both companies said there was no partnership and the material had seemingly been added to Qualcomm’s website by mistake. Hunterbrook said Qualcomm removed the code after being contacted for comment. Qualcomm and Anthropic had not publicly announced a partnership.

Hunterbrook Pulls Qualcomm-Anthropic Report 

The discovery initially appeared significant enough for Hunterbrook and research firm Citrini to prepare a joint article. They ultimately pulled the story after checking with sources and determining that the apparent partnership was not genuine.

“Honestly, for a second it seemed we had a major story from ‘inspect element,’” Citrini said. Hunterbrook called the episode a warning about relying too heavily on AI-assisted coding without completing the traditional reporting and verification process. “Sometimes, the truth is hidden—and sometimes even that truth isn’t what it seems,” it said.

Hunterbrook co-founder Sam Koppelman called the incident “one of the most incompetent displays” he had seen from Qualcomm. He said that the researchers initially believed they had uncovered a secret infrastructure partnership but instead concluded that Qualcomm had mishandled its website.

Why An Anthropic Deal Would Matter

Any Qualcomm-Anthropic partnership would have drawn significant investor attention as Qualcomm pushes deeper into the AI infrastructure market. The chipmaker recently unveiled its Dragonfly portfolio of CPUs, connectivity products and AI inference accelerators, targeting more than $15 billion in annual data-center revenue by fiscal 2029. With Qualcomm seeking to challenge Nvidia and AMD in AI chips, a tie-up with Anthropic, one of the industry's largest AI model developers, would have been viewed as a major development. 

The website mix-up also comes shortly after Anthropic reportedly faced scrutiny over a hidden tracking code in Claude Code. The company apparently later removed the code following privacy concerns.

How Do Retail Traders Feel About QCOM?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for QCOM was ‘bearish’ amid ‘low’ message volume.

One user said, “$QCOM Stock went from best in show to most hated in one month all on positive news.”

Another user said, “$QCOM I know this has always been cheap but, I'm quite surprised just how cheap it is now, with multiple AI iron's in the fire. Really not taking on too much risk right here.”

QCOM stock has risen 18% over the past year.

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