Qualcomm is moving to diversify its business by assisting Chinese tech giant ByteDance with custom chip design, according to multiple sources. The discussions mark a significant expansion for Qualcomm, traditionally known for its smartphone chips, into providing tailored chip design services for major non-phone technology companies.
The proposed chips for ByteDance would leverage technology from AlphaWave Semi, a firm Qualcomm acquired last year. These custom designs may include vision processing units (VPUs), with production potentially starting by the end of this year. Qualcomm’s entry into this space reflects growing industry momentum around specialized chips tailored for specific workloads beyond mobile devices.
Alongside this, Qualcomm has announced it acquired Modular, a startup focused on developing a unified compute platform aimed at enabling more open, efficient, and hardware-independent AI infrastructure. This acquisition underscores Qualcomm’s commitment to growing its footprint in AI and data center markets, positioning itself as a key player in future computing workloads beyond its traditional smartphone market base.
Qualcomm’s engagement with ByteDance also highlights a nuanced dynamic in US-China tech relations, as the companies advance talks despite broader geopolitical tensions. This development comes ahead of Qualcomm’s Investor Day, where the company is expected to reveal detailed plans around its chip and platform strategies for emerging markets such as AI and data centers.