Qualcomm Lands $60 Billion AI Chip Deal With Amazon

Under the terms of the decade-long agreement, Qualcomm will supply customized silicon chips to Amazon Web Services (AWS) to power its expanding artificial intelligence infrastructure. The partnership focuses heavily on running inference workloads within large-scale data centers. To cement the alliance, Qualcomm issued a stock warrant allowing Amazon to purchase up to 25 million shares at $161.26 each, representing a potential $4 billion investment. This equity option is contingent on Amazon purchasing $60 billion in server chips, systems, technology, and manufacturing services from Qualcomm over the next ten years.

Beyond processors, the two companies will collaborate on high-performance optical connectivity systems capable of reaching speeds up to 1.6 terabits per second to support high-bandwidth AI infrastructure. In return, Qualcomm will expand its deployment of AWS hardware and software, specifically utilizing the Amazon Bedrock platform. Qualcomm plans to run automated electronic design programs on AWS to accelerate its own chip design cycles.

This massive contract represents a significant milestone for Qualcomm as it pivots from its traditional stronghold in smartphone processors to challenge Nvidia's dominance in the AI hardware market. Qualcomm entered the space last October with the launch of its AI200 and AI250 chips, followed by an expanded data center portfolio in June and a supply agreement with Meta.

For enterprise developers and cloud architects, this partnership introduces a viable, high-scale alternative to Nvidia's hardware ecosystem for running large language models and inference workloads. By integrating Qualcomm's customized silicon directly into AWS, practitioners can expect more diversified hardware options, potentially lower inference costs, and improved bandwidth efficiency driven by the new 1.6 terabits per second optical interconnects.