Qualcomm Wins Meta Order, Enters AI Data Center Chip Market and Acquires Modular
Qualcomm has long relied on Snapdragon mobile chips as its core revenue driver, but is now using the Dragonfly C1000 to enter the AI data center market and challenge established server and ASIC suppliers. The company expects mobile handsets to account for only one-third of revenue by 2029. Its partnership with Meta and efforts to strengthen its software capabilities are central to expanding its non-handset businesses.
Qualcomm recently unveiled the Dragonfly C1000, designed specifically for agentic AI with more than 250 cores and clock speeds above 5GHz. It also signed a cooperation agreement with Meta, with mass production expected in 2028. At the same time, Qualcomm plans to acquire AI software company Modular for about $3.9 billion in stock, aiming to build an AI computing platform that can run across different chips.
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The history behind this eventQualcomm Closes $3.9 Billion Modular Deal to Boost AI Push
Qualcomm Incorporated, best known for smartphone chips, has been expanding into edge devices and data centers as AI inference becomes a larger computing market. Modular Inc., founded in 2022, built an AI-native software stack designed to run models across CPUs, GPUs, NPUs and custom ASICs without accelerator-specific rewrites. The acquisition gives Qualcomm a broader developer platform for generative and agentic AI, pairing its energy-efficient silicon with software intended to improve portability, orchestration and performance across heterogeneous systems.
Qualcomm said on July 31, 2026, it had completed the acquisition, roughly five weeks after announcing the agreement on June 24. A U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing said Qualcomm expected to issue as many as 19.2 million common shares to Modular’s owners, valuing the all-stock transaction at about $3.9 billion when it was unveiled. Modular co-founder and Chief Executive Chris Lattner will become Qualcomm’s executive vice president for advanced AI software and platform, while the companies continue developing the Mojo language, MAX platform and Modular Cloud.
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