Qualcomm Surges 7% on Reported OpenAI Smartphone Chip Deal
SAN DIEGO — Qualcomm shares surged 7% Monday on reports the chipmaker will partner with OpenAI and MediaTek to develop a custom smartphone processor designed for artificial intelligence, a deal that would mark OpenAI’s most significant move yet into hardware.
The San Diego-based semiconductor company will work alongside Taiwan’s MediaTek to build the chip, with Chinese manufacturer Luxshare co-designing the device, according to analyst research cited by CNBC. The partnership has not been officially confirmed by the companies involved.
The reported deal represents a strategic pivot for OpenAI, which has built its business on AI software products including the ChatGPT chatbot and its family of GPT models. A move into custom silicon would put the Sam Altman-led company in direct competition with Apple, Google and Samsung, all of which design proprietary chips optimized for on-device AI processing.
For Qualcomm, the partnership would provide a high-profile new customer for its chip design capabilities at a time when the company faces growing competition in the mobile processor market. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips already power a majority of premium Android smartphones and have increasingly emphasized neural processing units for AI workloads.
The involvement of MediaTek, the world’s largest smartphone chipmaker by volume, suggests the device could target a broad consumer market rather than a niche product. Luxshare, which also manufactures components for Apple, would handle co-design of the physical device.
Wall Street responded favorably to the news, with Qualcomm shares climbing 7% during the trading session. The stock move added billions to the company’s market capitalization.
The reported partnership comes amid an industrywide race among AI companies to control more of the hardware stack. OpenAI has previously explored hardware ambitions, including reported discussions about building its own AI chips for data centers. A smartphone chip would extend that ambition to the consumer device market, where on-device AI processing is increasingly seen as critical for privacy, latency and performance.
Neither OpenAI, Qualcomm, MediaTek nor Luxshare immediately responded to requests for comment on the reported partnership, according to CNBC. The deal remains based on analyst reporting and has not been confirmed through official company announcements.
