Catenaa, Tuesday, September 08, 2026- Qualcomm signed Amazon up as a data center chip customer in a deal that will span “multiple generations,” including the right to acquire $4 billion in shares.
The tie-up will create customized silicon to support Amazon Web Services artificial intelligence infrastructure, Qualcomm said Tuesday in a statement. The two will work on chips that run AI services and others that connect computer components.
Under the terms of the transaction, Qualcomm issued Amazon a warrant to acquire as many as 25 million shares at $161.26 apiece.
The warrant shares vest in tranches tied to Amazon chip orders worth up to $60 billion over the next decade, Qualcomm said.
Shares of Qualcomm jumped by 3.5% in New York; Amazon’s stock fell by 0.5%.
Signing Amazon as a customer adds momentum to the chipmaker’s push to muscle into the lucrative market for AI data-center components.
Under Chief Executive Officer Cristiano Amon, Qualcomm is trying to break its dependence on the ailing smartphone industry and fire up growth from new areas including data centers, automotive and PCs.
Qualcomm is pursuing two paths in its data center initiative: selling its own parts and helping large customers design and manufacture their own.
Amazon is already one of the largest users of in-house components with processor, networking, and AI chip efforts.
Qualcomm has previously announced Meta Platforms and Saudi Arabia’s Humain will be data center chip customers.
The massive build-out in that AI infrastructure has been marked by numerous tie-ups between companies that involve more than just orders for chips and computers.
Vendors such as Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices have invested in their customers or offered up ownership stakes as part of the deals.
They’ve said this helps speed up adoption and adds incentives for long-term relationships. Critics have expressed concerns that these agreements amount to circular financing that risks creating false demand.
Amazon and other cloud computing titans have been developing their own alternatives to Nvidia’s popular graphics processing units.
Introduced in 2020, Amazon’s AI accelerator, Trainium, has won a few marquee users, including OpenAI, Anthropic PBC and Uber Technologies, which access the hardware via Amazon Web Services. The chip has produced more than $225 billion in revenue commitments, Amazon said in April.
Amazon has long used warrants to scoop up stakes in its suppliers, an effort to capture more of the benefits of its spending.
The company has previously deployed the strategy with operators of cargo airlines and builders of trucks and cargo vans who supply its logistics business.
