Qualcomm and AWS partner on custom AI data-centre chips
Qualcomm, previously absent from AI data-centre silicon, will develop custom inference chips and optical connectivity supporting up to 1.6 terabits per second with AWS across multiple future chip generations.
- Compute & infrastructure
- Notable
Qualcomm announced a multi-generational collaboration with Amazon to develop custom silicon for AI data centres, spanning customised inference chips and optical connectivity built on Qualcomm’s SerDes and optical DSP technology, supporting bandwidth of up to 1.6 terabits per second in future generations. The announcement named Amazon as the partner but disclosed no dollar figure for the arrangement.
The deal marks Qualcomm’s entry into AI data-centre chips, a market it had not previously competed in directly, putting it alongside Nvidia, AMD and the custom-silicon efforts of the large cloud providers themselves. Qualcomm also said it would expand its own use of AWS infrastructure, including Amazon Bedrock, for electronic design automation work to speed up its chip-design cycles — making AWS both a customer for Qualcomm’s chips and a supplier of AI tools Qualcomm uses to design them. Qualcomm’s announcement disclosed no financial terms for the partnership.