Qualcomm acquires AI software startup Modular for $3.9 billion

Qualcomm agreed to get AI bundle startup Modular successful an all-stock woody valued astatine $3.92 billion, the semiconductor institution said Wednesday, arsenic it works to grow beyond smartphone chips into information halfway and borderline AI markets.

Equity holders of Modular volition person up to 19.2 cardinal recently issued Qualcomm communal shares done a backstage placement, according to the company. The transaction is expected to adjacent successful the 2nd fractional of 2026, taxable to regulatory approvals.

Modular builds bundle that allows AI models to tally crossed antithetic hardware architectures — including chips from aggregate vendors — without requiring developers to rewrite codification for each processor. The level supports CPU, GPU, NPU, and customized spot architectures, the institution said.

Qualcomm said the acquisition is intended to deepen its bundle capabilities for information halfway AI, supporting inference, orchestration, and deployment crossed distributed systems. It besides positions the chipmaker to pull developers, unreality work providers, and exemplary creators who privation hardware flexibility.

"As agentic AI scales crossed information centers and borderline environments, the manufacture is moving toward disaggregated, multi-vendor architectures that request a much unfastened and modern bundle foundation," Qualcomm President and CEO Cristiano Amon said successful a statement.

Modular co-founder and CEO Chris Lattner said the woody gives his institution the standard to beforehand its mission. "Joining Qualcomm gives america the standard and level scope to accelerate that mission," Lattner said successful a statement. "Together, we tin marque AI improvement much accessible and performant for developers."

The acquisition moves Qualcomm into territory agelong dominated by Nvidia's CUDA platform, which has cemented developer loyalty to Nvidia's hardware, according to Reuters. Modular has positioned itself arsenic a vendor-neutral bundle furniture that supports Nvidia, AMD, and different chips.

The announcement came connected the aforesaid time Qualcomm was scheduled to clasp an capitalist time successful New York, according to The Wall Street Journal. Smartphone chips stay the instauration of Qualcomm's business, and the institution has been pursuing information halfway opportunities arsenic a mode to diversify, with dedicated AI processors for that marketplace slated to vessel earlier year's end.

Qualcomm banal was up astir 1% successful premarket trading Wednesday.