Qualcomm has announced two new artificial intelligence (AI) chips – AI200 and AI250 – as part of its major push into the data center market. The move signals the company’s intent to diversify beyond smartphones and challenge Nvidia’s dominance in AI computing. Following the announcement, Qualcomm’s shares surged 20%, reflecting strong investor optimism in its AI ambitions.

AI200 and AI250: Qualcomm’s Data Center Bet

The new AI200 and AI250 chips are designed to deliver higher memory capacity and superior performance for running AI applications, including large language models (LLMs), chatbots, and other generative AI workloads.
According to Qualcomm, AI200 will be commercially available in 2026, followed by AI250 in 2027.

The chips will support major AI frameworks and developer tools while offering improved energy efficiency and cost savings for enterprises. The company also introduced data center racks built around the new chips – a move mirroring Nvidia and AMD’s shift toward full-stack AI systems rather than standalone processors.

As part of its early adoption program, Qualcomm confirmed a partnership with Humain, an AI startup backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, which will deploy 200 megawatts of Qualcomm AI racks beginning in 2026.

“Qualcomm’s entry and major deal in Saudi Arabia prove the ecosystem is fragmenting because no single company can meet the global, decentralized need for high-efficiency AI compute”, said Joe Tigay, portfolio manager at the Rational Equity Armor Fund.

Diversifying Beyond Smartphones

Long known as the world’s largest supplier of smartphone modem chips, Qualcomm has been seeking to reduce its reliance on the mobile segment – especially after losing Huawei as a major client and as Apple continues developing its own in-house chips.

Over the past two years, the company has expanded into the personal computing market, competing with Intel and AMD through its Snapdragon-based processors for Windows laptops. The entry into the data center AI market marks its most ambitious diversification yet.

With AI infrastructure investments soaring globally, Qualcomm’s entry positions it to tap into one of the fastest-growing technology markets. However, the company still faces stiff competition from Nvidia, whose GPUs remain the industry standard for AI workloads.

If Qualcomm delivers on its cost-efficient AI performance promise, the AI200 and AI250 could mark a major turning point for the chipmaker’s long-term growth strategy.