5 November 2026 — Qualcomm forecast $15 billion in data-centre revenue by 2029 at its 4 November fiscal Q4 earnings call, as smartphone sales fell around 20 percent from 2025, The Verge reported. The chipmaker is seeking a larger business selling AI chips for data centres as handset demand weakens.
Key points
- Qualcomm forecasts around $650 million in data-centre revenue in the first quarter of 2027 and $5 billion by the end of that year.
- The company expects data centres eventually to account for around 30 percent of its business.
- Qualcomm entered the earnings call with handset revenue down 20 percent to $5.09 billion in the preceding quarter.
- Its data-centre plans include AI inference chips and partnerships announced earlier in 2026 with Amazon and Meta.
Qualcomm sets a $15 billion target
Qualcomm expects about $650 million in data-centre revenue in the first quarter of 2027, rising to $5 billion by the end of 2027 and $15 billion by 2029. It expects the business eventually to make up around 30 percent of its revenue. The Verge reported Qualcomm’s total revenue for 2026 as $10.4 billion.
Amazon and Meta are among the partners Qualcomm announced earlier in 2026 for its data-centre business. The revenue forecasts put a timetable on a move beyond smartphone chips, with the first-quarter figure preceding the substantially higher year-end target.
AMD provides a different benchmark for the scale of that move. The rival chipmaker says it expects data centres eventually to generate more than 80 percent of its revenue, according to The Verge. Qualcomm’s stated expectation is around 30 percent.
Handset revenue fell to $5.09 billion
Qualcomm’s handset revenue fell 20 percent to $5.09 billion in the quarter preceding its fiscal Q4 results, tastylive reported in a 2 November earnings preview. The publication linked pressure on smartphone demand to rising memory costs and Apple’s shift towards its own modems. Automotive revenue rose 61 percent to $1.59 billion in that preceding quarter.
Before the 4 November call, Qualcomm expected its share of modems in the upcoming iPhone to be materially below an earlier estimate of 20 percent. Management had said growth in non-handset revenue should exceed 60 percent in fiscal 2027, compared with 24 percent in fiscal 2026, tastylive reported. Those expectations made the expansion of businesses outside smartphones central to its outlook.
Qualcomm had guided fiscal Q4 revenue to $9.7 billion to $10.5 billion and non-GAAP earnings per share to $2.05 to $2.25. Ahead of the results, analysts expected revenue of about $10.14 billion and earnings per share of about $2.16, according to the 2 November preview. Those figures were estimates for the quarter, rather than the data-centre revenue targets set out on the subsequent call.
AI200 and AI250 underpin the data-centre push
Qualcomm unveiled its AI200 and AI250 inference accelerators in October 2025, with commercial windows in 2026 and 2027, tastylive reported. The company’s push also includes custom silicon for a hyperscaler and its acquisition of Alphawave, which the earnings preview described as intended to accelerate the data-centre effort.
The new business carries a margin question alongside its revenue targets. TD Cowen analysts cautioned that early data-centre programmes could have lower margins, according to tastylive. Some prominent chips on Qualcomm’s roadmap were not expected until 2028, the publication reported.
Qualcomm expects to make its first custom-silicon deliveries to a hyperscaler in December 2026, tastylive reported ahead of the earnings call.
