Key Highlights
- Shares of QCOM climbed more than 12% during pre-market hours following the company’s Investor Day presentation in New York
- The chipmaker elevated its FY2029 revenue projection for non-handset segments to $40 billion from a prior $22 billion estimate
- Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, announced a partnership to integrate Qualcomm’s Dragonfly C1000 CPU into Meta’s data center operations
- Satya Nadella of Microsoft revealed Azure’s adoption of Qualcomm’s High-Bandwidth Compute technology
- The company completed an all-stock acquisition of AI software firm Modular, valued at approximately $3.92 billion
Shares of Qualcomm experienced a significant rally on Thursday, climbing from a closing price of $197.41 to reach $220.76 during pre-market hoursâa surge exceeding 12%âfollowing the semiconductor company’s Investor Day presentation held Wednesday evening in New York City.
The dramatic price movement followed a series of significant announcements that repositioned Qualcomm’s strategic direction toward AI-powered data center solutions, moving beyond its core smartphone semiconductor operations.
The most striking announcement: Qualcomm elevated its fiscal 2029 revenue forecast for non-handset divisions to $40 billionâeffectively doubling its earlier projection of $22 billion.
Breaking down the targets, the semiconductor giant anticipates generating $15 billion from data center operations, over $14 billion from Internet of Things applications, and $10 billion from automotive sectors by fiscal year 2029. The company also projected adjusted earnings per share exceeding $18 for that timeframe, significantly surpassing current Wall Street consensus of $15.26.
Chief Executive Cristiano Amon addressed attendees, stating the organization has been “executing, collecting assets,” and now possesses a “comprehensive portfolio to enter the next phase of the data center.”
Introducing the Dragonfly C1000 and Meta Partnership
Central to Qualcomm’s data center strategy is the Dragonfly C1000âa 250-core server processor utilizing the company’s proprietary Oryon architecture, purpose-built for agentic artificial intelligence applications.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg made a stage appearance to announce a multi-generation partnership for deploying the Dragonfly C1000 throughout Meta’s server infrastructure. Manufacturing is scheduled to commence during the latter half of 2028.
Separately, Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella announced that Azure would implement Qualcomm’s High-Bandwidth Compute (HBC) architectureâa chip design utilizing more affordable memory technology found in mobile devices and notebooks, serving as a cost-effective alternative to the premium high-bandwidth memory components employed by Nvidia.
Strategic Acquisition of Modular
Qualcomm simultaneously revealed its acquisition of Modular, an AI software developer, through an all-stock transaction valued at roughly $3.92 billion.
Modular’s technology enables artificial intelligence models to operate across diverse chip architectures from various manufacturersâincluding Nvidia and AMDâeliminating the need for vendor-specific programming. This positions Qualcomm as a flexible, open-platform competitor to Nvidia’s entrenched CUDA ecosystem.
Additionally, the company revealed agreements with two unidentified hyperscale cloud providers for custom silicon solutions launching in late 2026.
The announcements coincided with Micron Technology’s impressive fiscal third-quarter financial results, which elevated optimism throughout the semiconductor industry and pushed Nasdaq futures higher.
Ahead of the investor event, JPMorgan had added QCOM to its Positive Catalyst Watch list and increased its price objective to $265.
Current Wall Street consensus stands at Hold, comprising 19 Hold ratings, 8 Buy recommendations, and 4 Sell opinions, with an average price objective of $187.33. These assessments will likely undergo revision as financial analysts evaluate Wednesday’s announcements.
According to GuruFocus, the stock’s intrinsic value stands at $175.34, suggesting the pre-market trading price represents approximately 12.6% premium above fair value.
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