Qualcomm to acquire AI software player Modular for nearly USD4 billion
California, June 24
US tech major Qualcomm is acquiring AI software firm Modular as it expands its presence across the generative and agentic AI ecosystem.
The semiconductor player said that it will be an all-stock deal, and the company expects to issue up to 19.2 million shares of its common stock to the equity owners of Modular. At Qualcomm's closing price on Tuesday, the deal value comes around USD3.9 billion.
By acquiring Modular, Qualcomm has gained a toehold in a strategically important AI segment that is dominated by the likes of Nvidia's CUDA. The AI software CUDA lets developers harness Nvidia's massive GPU power.
Modular provides an AI-native software stack that enables AI to run efficiently across the hardware architecture.
The acquisition is expected to strengthen the software foundation for Qualcomm's data centre strategy, supporting more efficient inference, orchestration, and deployment in distributed AI systems.
"This acquisition marks a pivotal moment not just for Qualcomm, but for the AI industry," said Cristiano Amon, President and CEO, Qualcomm.
"We believe the future belongs to developer-friendly, horizontal platforms that can run across diverse compute environments and give customers real choice in how and where they deploy AI. With Modular, we're accelerating that shift, combining our scale and energy-efficient data center technologies with an open ecosystem approach to help drive the next chapter of AI," the Qualcomm CEO added.
The deal comes at a time when top tech players are accelerating their AI spending across different layers of the AI stack. Hyperscalers like Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft are spending hundreds of billions of dollars in strengthening the compute infrastructure.
Shares of Qualcomm were trading at USD198.24, nearly 3 per cent down on Nasdaq.
The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions and applicable regulatory approvals.
— ANI
Reader Comments
As someone who's watched the tech industry for years, I'm cautiously optimistic. Modular's approach to making AI hardware-agnostic is exactly what the ecosystem needs. But $3.9 billion in stock? That's a big bet. Hope Qualcomm can integrate this well without losing Modular's innovative culture.
Nvidia has had a stranglehold on AI for too long. This is good news for competition! But I'm wondering how this affects Indian semiconductor ambitions. With our own chip manufacturing plans, we need to ensure we're not left behind in the AI software stack race. The Modi government should take note. 🤔
Interesting move by Qualcomm. But $4 billion for a software company? When AI spending is already through the roof, I worry about another bubble. Remember the dot-com era? Let's see if this actually translates to tangible products or just hype.
As a tech journalist, I see this as a strategic masterstroke. Qualcomm has always been strong in mobile AI (hello, Snapdragon!), but data center AI was their weak spot. Modular's open ecosystem approach could democratize AI development. My only concern: will this mean higher phone prices for Indian consumers? 📱
All these big tech acquisitions make me wonder - where does the Indian AI ecosystem fit in? We have brilliant minds but lack the capital for such massive deals. Hope our startups can find niche areas in the AI stack rather than competing head-on with these giants. Jugaad innovation still works! 😄