Qualcomm CEO Says ‘There’s Always Room’ In AI Market Despite Nvidia Dominance: Report

• Qualcomm CEO Christiano Amon told CNBC that Qualcomm’s value proposition lies in energy efficiency and lower operating costs.
• His comments come after Qualcomm launched new chips on Monday, marking its foray into the AI accelerator space. 
• Qualcomm’s first major customer for the new AI chips is the Saudi AI startup, Humane. 

Qualcomm (QCOM) is positioning itself to compete in the fast-growing AI data center market, targeting inferencing workloads where enterprises deploy AI models rather than creating them. 

CEO Cristiano Amon told CNBC that while Nvidia (NVDA) dominates AI training, Qualcomm sees an opportunity in AI inference, a segment that supports enterprise and consumer applications after AI models are developed. He was speaking at the annual Future Investment Initiative (FII) summit in Riyadh.

QCOM’s stock slipped more than 3% in morning trade on Tuesday and was among the top trending tickers on Stocktwits. Despite the dip in its stock price, retail sentiment around the company surged to ‘extremely bullish’ from ‘neutral’ and chatter jumped to ‘extremely high’ from ‘normal’ levels over the past day.

Efficiency As A Competitive Edge

“You train on Nvidia, run on Qualcomm,” Amon said, emphasizing that standard software frameworks allow enterprises to deploy models on different hardware without significant barriers. Qualcomm has spent years developing software to support its chips and believes it can create a competitive environment in a space currently supplied by multiple vendors.

“If you have something that is innovative, there's always room for you.”

– Christiano Amon, CEO, Qualcomm

Amon stressed that Qualcomm’s value proposition lies in energy efficiency and lower operating costs, leveraging expertise from its mobile and automotive chip designs for battery efficiency. “One of the bottlenecks of the data center is energy. We have the ability to do that with less power, and then have much lower operating costs,” he said.

His comments come after Qualcomm launched new chips on Monday, marking its foray into the AI accelerator space. 

Qualcomm’s Saudi Partnership And Market Entry

The company’s first major customer for the new AI chips is the Saudi AI startup, Humane. Amon said the partnership aligns with Saudi Arabia’s goal to not only export energy but also “export tokens,” creating an ideal intersection with Qualcomm’s expansion into AI data centers. 

Qualcomm plans to ship the AI 200 chip next year, followed by AI 250. Amon said the company is also in discussions with hyperscale cloud providers and expects additional customer traction in early 2026. Amon noted that despite regulatory scrutiny in China over a prior acquisition, Qualcomm’s automotive business and long-term presence in China remain resilient.

QCOM’s stock has gained more than 16% this year and around 6.7% in the last 12 months.

Read also: Bitcoin Holds Near $114K Ahead of Fed Rate Decision — SOL, XRP Edge Higher

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

Share

·

Add us on