Qualcomm, Amazon Forge $60 Billion AI Chip and Optical Alliance

Qualcomm is pushing beyond its smartphone-chip stronghold into AI data centers, while Amazon is expanding its use of custom silicon to lower the cost of training and running large models. Their partnership spans purpose-built processors, 1.6-terabit optical interconnects and AWS computing infrastructure, underscoring how the AI race increasingly depends on moving data quickly as well as supplying raw computing power.

As of Sept. 9, 2026, reports said Qualcomm would supply Amazon with multiple generations of custom chips and 1.6T optical-interconnect products under a partnership potentially worth as much as $60 billion. Qualcomm will also issue Amazon about $4 billion of warrants tied to purchasing commitments and use AWS AI infrastructure to accelerate chip development. Separately, Corning signed an agreement with Verizon to deploy fiber supporting generative-AI workloads.