Qualcomm (QCOM) Ignites AI Race with New Data-Center Chips

Qualcomm QCOM unveiled two new AI data-center accelerators, the AI200 and AI250, and announced that Saudi-backed startup Humain will deploy the systems.

The AI200 is scheduled to ship in 2026, with the more powerful AI250 to follow in 2027. Qualcomm positioned the chips primarily for AI inference workloads, running trained models, rather than the heavy training tasks that currently favor Nvidia.

Humain has committed to installing about 200 megawatts of Qualcomm rack systems starting in 2026, a move aimed at enabling large-scale AI deployments across the Middle East and globally.

Shares of Qualcomm surged roughly 11% following the announcement on Monday, hitting multi-month highs as investors grew more optimistic about the company's potential to compete more directly with Nvidia and AMD in the data-center AI space.

Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon reiterated a bullish view on the stock and maintained a $185 price target, which has been widely referenced by market participants after the news.

Overall, the development highlights Qualcomm's push to expand beyond its mobile-chip roots into AI infrastructure, a segment where cost-efficient inference performance could open the door for viable alternatives to current market leaders.