Qualcomm is turning to AI data centres to make up for a sharp fall in smartphone sales, The Verge reports. During its fourth-quarter earnings call, the chipmaker said phone sales were down about 20% on 2025 and set out plans to grow its data centre business, building on partnerships with Amazon and Meta announced earlier this year.
The company forecast about $650m in data centre revenue in the first quarter of 2027, rising to $5bn by the end of that year and $15bn by 2029. It said data centres should eventually make up around 30% of its business. The Verge notes that Qualcomm's total revenue for 2026 was $10.4bn, so the target would be a significant shift, though it is less ambitious than rival AMD, which expects more than 80% of its revenue to come from data centres.
Source: The Verge