Qualcomm designs mobile processors, RF chips, and wireless modems, with the Snapdragon SoC family powering the majority of Android premium smartphones and an increasing share of Windows PCs. Qualcomm is the leading supplier of application processors with integrated NPUs for mobile and PC AI—on-device AI that runs locally without cloud connectivity. In 2025, Qualcomm made its first significant move into data center AI, announcing dedicated accelerator chips targeting inference workloads in hyperscale deployments.

On-device AI has been a central design priority for Qualcomm's recent Snapdragon generations. The Hexagon NPU, integrated into Snapdragon mobile and PC chips, enables applications like real-time voice recognition, image generation, and AI assistant features to run locally. Snapdragon X Elite and the subsequent X2 Elite for AI PCs brought competitive NPU performance to the Windows market. Qualcomm projects over 800M AI-capable chips shipped across smartphone and PC platforms in 2025.

In October 2025, Qualcomm announced the AI200 and AI250 data center accelerators, targeting inference workloads at rack scale. Humain, a Saudi Arabian AI infrastructure company, was announced as the first customer for a 200 MW deployment—Qualcomm's entry into the data center AI market at commercial scale. The AI200 is designed for 2026 production, and the AI250 for 2027. Qualcomm's entry into data center AI reflects the company's assessment that the inference market is addressable given its architecture.