A securities filing shows Google bought nearly 3 million Qualcomm shares, a small stake in a phone chip maker now chasing the AI data center market.
Google has bought about $548 million worth of Qualcomm stock, according to a securities filing reported by Ryan Barwick of The Information. The purchase covers nearly 3 million shares. Qualcomm is best known for phone chips, but it is now pushing into chips for AI data centers.
The filing shows Google spent roughly $548 million on the shares. That is less than half a percent of all Qualcomm shares, so Google does not own a big piece of the company. Still, it is a notable move from one of the largest technology companies buying into a chip maker.
A data center is a large building full of computers that run online services. AI tools need a lot of computing power, and that power comes from specialized chips. Qualcomm has made its name in chips for phones. The story says it is now trying to serve the AI data center market too.
For most people, nothing changes today. Over time, more companies making AI chips could affect the cost and supply of the AI tools that businesses use. The effect, if any, would take time to show up.
Google's small Qualcomm stake is a sign that phone chip makers are chasing AI computing, though the reason for the purchase is not yet known.
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Read more: Underwater datacenters may be next, and Lake Erie groups are worriedVoters in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, banned large data centers after a $900 million plan. Here is how a town of 6,600 did it, and what other places can learn.
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