Qualcomm stock weighs data-center push against handset pressure
Published on 11/09/2026 at 15:15 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWSGrowth Beyond Smartphones
- Qualcomm is expanding into data-center CPUs, inference accelerators and custom chips as handset demand remains uncertain.
- Management expects smartphone demand to recover after the fiscal third quarter and is building a broader semiconductor portfolio.
- The company is also using the AlphaWave acquisition and connectivity expertise to pursue custom silicon opportunities.
Qualcomm is positioning data-center chips as a second growth engine while waiting for a recovery in its smartphone business. A Reuters report republished by The Economic Times said Qualcomm expects the smartphone market to begin recovering after its fiscal third quarter.
Chief Executive Cristiano Amon said the company could now call the bottom of the smartphone downturn. The report linked that view to Qualcomm's licensing business, which gives the company insight into handset makers' plans for later in the year. Memory-cost inflation has weighed on smartphone and personal-computer demand, increasing pressure on consumers and device manufacturers.
Data-Center Expansion Takes Shape
Qualcomm is preparing products for three parts of the data-center market: central processing units, inference accelerators and custom application-specific integrated circuits. Inference chips process trained artificial-intelligence models in live workloads, a market where cloud providers are expanding capacity.
Amon said Qualcomm has customer engagement around a custom ASIC and is using connectivity intellectual property to support the effort. The company acquired AlphaWave, a semiconductor technology designer, in a deal valued at 2.4 billion US dollars, according to the report. Qualcomm plans to start shipping data-center products before the end of 2026.
The strategic shift comes as Apple and Samsung increasingly develop chips in-house. That creates pressure on Qualcomm's traditional handset business, while data-center products could broaden its exposure to artificial-intelligence infrastructure. The transition also brings execution risk because new products must win design slots and reach production at scale.
Guidance Remains Below Expectations
For the current quarter cited in the report, Qualcomm forecast revenue of 9.2 billion to 10 billion US dollars, below the 10.27 billion US dollar estimate compiled by LSEG. Adjusted earnings were expected at 2.10 to 2.30 US dollars per share, compared with an estimate of 2.45 US dollars.
Qualcomm stock traded at 147.14 euros on Lang & Schwarz at 15:08 CET on Monday, November 9, 2026.
Qualcomm at a Glance
- Company: Qualcomm
- ISIN: US7475251036
- Ticker: QCOM
- Lang & Schwarz price: 147.14 euros at 15:08 CET on November 9, 2026
Investors are therefore balancing a potential smartphone recovery against the time and capital required to establish Qualcomm in data-center silicon. The next milestones are product shipments, customer conversions and evidence that inference demand can offset handset pressure.
US semiconductor shares remain sensitive to artificial-intelligence infrastructure spending and technology-sector sentiment; follow the S&P 500 market environment.
For more developments, see More news and analyses on Qualcomm stock.
