Google parent Alphabet takes $548 million stake in Qualcomm as chipmaker expands beyond smartphones into AI data centers

Google’s parent, Alphabet, has acquired a stake worth nearly $548 million in Qualcomm, deepening its financial ties with the chipmaker as the longtime Android partner races to build a new business supplying processors for AI data centers. The investment comes at a difficult moment for Qualcomm, which is facing weakening smartphone demand and mounting pressure to find its next major source of growth.

According to a regulatory filing disclosed Friday, Alphabet held nearly 3 million Qualcomm shares valued at approximately $547.9 million as of September 30, 2026. Alphabet established the position in the third quarter, marking a significant investment in a company that has spent decades supplying chips for smartphones running Google’s Android operating system.

The investment comes just over two weeks after reports that Qualcomm plans to cut jobs globally as CEO Cristiano Amon pushes a performance-focused restructuring. According to an internal memo Reuters reviewed, affected employees are expected to begin receiving notifications in November. The company has not disclosed how many jobs it will eliminate.

Qualcomm shares climbed about 3% in premarket trading Friday, recovering some ground after plunging more than 9% Thursday following disappointing quarterly results and a broader technology stock selloff, Reuters reported.

The investment arrives as Qualcomm attempts one of the biggest transitions in its history: moving from a company best known for mobile processors to a serious competitor in the multibillion-dollar market for artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Qualcomm’s $15 billion AI data center ambition

Qualcomm has spent the past year courting major cloud providers with custom AI processors, betting that its experience building energy-efficient smartphone chips can translate into the enormous computing facilities running artificial intelligence models.

The company is targeting $15 billion in annual data center chip revenue by 2029, an ambitious goal for a business still in its early stages.

That expansion puts Qualcomm in direct competition with Nvidia, which dominates the market for AI accelerators used to train and run advanced models. Technology companies are increasingly exploring alternatives to Nvidia’s expensive processors, including in-house chips and custom designs from other semiconductor suppliers.

Qualcomm has already secured support from some of the industry’s biggest buyers.

In September, the chipmaker struck a long-term agreement with Amazon that could see the cloud giant purchase up to $60 billion worth of Qualcomm AI data center chips and related products. The arrangement includes warrants tied to purchases that could give Amazon an equity stake in Qualcomm.

Microsoft and Meta have placed orders for Qualcomm’s data center processors, providing further evidence that its expansion beyond smartphones is gaining commercial traction.

For Qualcomm, those relationships could help offset pressure on its traditional business. Weak smartphone demand, higher component costs and the eventual loss of Apple’s modem business have raised questions about the company’s future growth.

Alphabet’s investment adds another dimension to an already extensive relationship.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors have powered Android smartphones for years. The companies have extended their collaboration into laptops and automotive technology, including a 2024 agreement focused on bringing AI capabilities to connected vehicles.

Yet Alphabet is pursuing its own AI chip strategy through Google’s custom Tensor Processing Units, creating an interesting relationship between two companies that collaborate across several markets but could increasingly compete for data center customers.

The filing does not establish whether Alphabet’s investment is directly connected to Qualcomm’s AI infrastructure plans. It does, however, place Google among the chipmaker’s shareholders at a time when the competition to supply AI computing hardware is intensifying.

Alphabet disclosed another investment change Friday, increasing its holdings in Elon Musk’s SpaceX to approximately 555 million shares from 551.2 million previously.

For Qualcomm, the bigger question is whether it can convert growing interest from technology giants into a sustainable data center business.

The company’s smartphone business made it a semiconductor heavyweight. Its next chapter may depend on convincing the world’s largest cloud providers that Nvidia isn’t their only option.