Tue May 20 06:30:00 UTC 2025: ## Qualcomm Announces Data Center Chip to Complement Nvidia, Re-entering Competitive Market

**TAIPEI, Taiwan** – Qualcomm announced Monday its plan to develop custom processors for data centers, specifically designed to work in conjunction with Nvidia’s powerful graphics processing units (GPUs) that are essential for training complex artificial intelligence models. This marks a renewed push into the data center market for Qualcomm, aiming to capitalize on the explosive growth in AI-driven applications.

Nvidia’s GPUs have become a cornerstone of AI infrastructure, and Qualcomm’s new CPU is designed to seamlessly integrate with these systems and Nvidia’s software ecosystem. This strategic alignment is seen as crucial for any company aiming to gain a foothold in the competitive data center landscape.

“I think we see a lot of growth happening in this space for decades to come, and we have some technology that can add real value added,” Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon told CNBC, adding that the company possesses a “very disruptive CPU.” Amon promised further details about the CPU roadmap and release timeline soon.

This move represents a re-entry for Qualcomm into the data center arena after previous attempts proved unsuccessful. The company acquired Nuvia in 2021, a processor design firm specializing in Arm-based architecture, which has been instrumental in Qualcomm’s development of these new data center CPUs.

The data center CPU market is currently dominated by Intel and AMD, with major cloud computing players like Amazon and Microsoft also developing their own custom silicon. Despite the intense competition, Amon expressed confidence that Qualcomm can carve out a niche by delivering innovative and value-added technology.

“As long as … we can build a great product, we can bring innovation, and we can add value with some disruptive technology, there’s going to be room for Qualcomm, especially in the data center,” Amon stated.

Last week, Qualcomm solidified its commitment to the region by signing a memorandum of understanding with Saudi-based AI firm Humain to develop data centers.

Diversifying beyond its traditional smartphone processor and modem business is a key strategic imperative for Qualcomm. Analysts like Mario Morales from IDC believe this move into the data center market is a positive step towards that goal.

“Over the coming five years, the data center will be the fastest-growing segment for the semi market as a whole,” Morales explained. “This announcement begins to change that, and I expect that some of this technology that they bring to this specific market will probably likely come over the next couple years.”

In addition to data centers, Qualcomm is also expanding into other markets. At Computex in Taipei, Amon announced that there are over 85 PC designs either on sale or in development utilizing Snapdragon X Series chips, with plans to unveil a new PC chip at its annual summit in September. Qualcomm is highlighting the power efficiency and on-device AI processing capabilities of its chips, offering advantages in speed and security.

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