Qualcomm, Amazon Expand AI Chip Partnership With Warrant Tied to Up to $60B in Payments

Qualcomm and Amazon are expanding a partnership to develop customized artificial intelligence inference silicon and high-speed optical connectivity solutions for Amazon Web Services data centers, with a warrant linking Amazon’s potential equity stake to commercial milestones.

The companies will work across multiple generations of customized silicon for large-scale AI inference. They also plan to develop optical connectivity solutions reaching up to 1.6 terabits per second using Qualcomm’s SerDes and optical digital signal processor technologies.

Qualcomm will increase its use of AWS infrastructure, including Amazon Bedrock, for electronic design automation workloads intended to shorten chip-design cycles.

“Qualcomm is pleased to work with AWS on customized silicon and connectivity solutions,” Cristiano Amon, president and CEO of Qualcomm, said.

Amazon.com NV Investment Holdings LLC received a warrant for up to 25 million Qualcomm common shares at an exercise price of $161.26 per share. The warrant was issued Sept. 3, 2026, and expires Sept. 3, 2036.

The warrant included 3.75 million shares vested upon issuance based on initial purchase commitments. The remaining shares will vest in tranches tied to commercial arrangements, binding purchase orders and Amazon purchases of Qualcomm server-chip products, technology, systems and manufacturing services.

The warrant’s vesting terms allow for up to $60 billion in payments through Sept. 3, 2036. That amount is a ceiling used in the vesting structure, not confirmed revenue, booked backlog or a guaranteed purchase value.

The warrant allows cashless exercise but provides no voting or other common-stockholder rights while it remains unexercised. Qualcomm disclosed the collaboration Sept. 8, 2026, without providing chip architecture, manufacturing process, production volumes, deployment schedule or product prices.