Qualcomm Stock Surged on Data Center Revenue Progress
Between mid-March and mid-September 2026, Qualcomm (QCOM) stock surged by 40%, outperforming the S&P 500's gain of 15.5%. The rise was driven largely by progress in its data center chip business, which had been under discussion for over a year before turning into concrete orders and revenue guidance. Qualcomm first signaled potential data center opportunities during Q3 fiscal 2025 results in July 2025, with discussions progressing through November 2025 to February 2026. By the time of its Q3 fiscal 2026 report on July 29, 2026, it had secured custom silicon wins and purchase orders from global hyperscalers, pushing data center revenue expectations forward significantly. In addition to securing key partnerships with AWS through a multi-generation chip collaboration in September 2026 and BMW for automotive computing, Qualcomm raised its long-term financial targets. It now aims for $5 billion of data center revenue by fiscal 2027 and $40 billion from non-handset businesses by fiscal 2029—nearly equaling the company’s total FY1Q26 revenue.
Topics: AI chips data center financial performance hyperscaler partnerships