Qualcomm Bets $2.4 Billion On Alphawave To Power AI Data Centers

Qualcomm Inc QCOM announced on Monday that it has agreed to acquire semiconductor company Alphawave IP Group Plc for approximately $2.4 billion in cash.

The purchase price implies 183 pence per share for Alphawave, implying close to a 96% premium to the price immediately before Qualcomm disclosed its interest in the company.

The acquisition of Alphawave Semi aims to further accelerate, and provide key assets for, Qualcomm’s expansion into data centers. Qualcomm Oryon CPU and Hexagon NPU processors are well positioned to meet the growing demand for high-performance, low-power computing, which is being driven by a rapid increase in AI inferencing and the transition to custom CPUs in data centers, the company said in a press release.

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The deal, subject to regulatory and shareholder approval, will likely close in the first quarter of 2026. Qualcomm held $13.85 billion in cash and equivalents as of March 31, 2025.

In May, JP Morgan analyst Samik Chatterjee said Alphawave has higher strategic importance for Qualcomm, which has recently more explicitly outlined its intent to pursue the data center market as another pillar of growth and diversification.

The analyst said Alphawave’s acquisition and capabilities regarding data center connectivity IP would complement its earlier acquisition of Nuvia and its capabilities for designing data center CPUs and AI inference chips based on custom ARM cores.

Chatterjee expects Alphawave’s breadth of capabilities to add to Qualcomm’s portfolio, positioning the company to benefit from tailwinds related to strong growth in Custom silicon and ASIC adoption within AI infrastructure and development in content about connectivity products within AI data centers.

He added that Alphawave’s immediate contribution to Qualcomm’s financial performance is unlikely material, but the company expects synergies from its entry into the broader data center TAM.

Price Action: QCOM stock is trading higher by 0.19% to $149.52 premarket at last check Monday.

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