Qualcomm has agreed to acquire Modular, an AI-native software platform, in a move aimed at reinforcing its offering for generative and agentic AI across data centre and edge applications.
The financial terms of the all-stock transaction were not officially disclosed. However, multiple media reports value the deal at nearly $4bn, with the Nasdaq-listed Qualcomm expected to issue up to 19.2m shares of its common stock to the equity holders of Modular.
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Modular offers an open, AI-centric software stack designed to support efficient AI operation across different hardware platforms. These include central processing units (CPUs), neural processing units (NPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs), and custom application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs).
The company’s approach translates to developers and enterprises to build AI workloads once and run them across any environment, while reducing total cost of ownership.
Modular, supported by a developer community, focuses on improving the portability and efficiency of AI infrastructure.
Modular co-founder and CEO Chris Lattner said: “Modular was founded on the belief that AI needs a more open and efficient software foundation that can span diverse hardware and deployment environments.
“Joining Qualcomm gives us the scale and platform reach to accelerate that mission. Together, we can make AI development more accessible and performant for developers, strengthen portability across hardware, and help grow an open ecosystem that broadens participation and speeds innovation.”
Qualcomm expects the acquisition to bolster its software capabilities, allowing it to deliver what it describes as an optimised AI compute layer across a wider range of platforms and use cases.
According to the company, this will enhance its data centre approach and support the deployment of distributed AI, facilitating engagement with developers, hyperscalers, model creators, and enterprise clients.
Qualcomm president and CEO Cristiano Amon said: “This acquisition marks a pivotal moment not just for Qualcomm, but for the AI industry.
“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 centre technologies with an open ecosystem approach to help drive the next chapter of AI.”
The deal, which is subject to regulatory approvals and other conditions, is anticipated to close in H2 2026.
Separately, Qualcomm during its 2026 Investor Day, outlined a focus on accelerated diversification across the data centre, edge, automotive, industrial AI, networking, and robotics sectors.
The company reported that these markets, together, represent an estimated total addressable market of $1.7tn by 2030.
Qualcomm stated it has raised its non-handset revenue target for fiscal 2029 to $40bn, doubling its prior forecast. Additionally, it set a target of more than $15bn in data centre AI infrastructure revenue by the same year.
The company’s automotive design-win pipeline has reached $65bn, with an updated growth target of $10bn in automotive revenues by fiscal 2029.
Qualcomm is also planning expansion into robotics and industrial AI, as well as targeting more than $18 non-GAAP earnings per share (EPS) in fiscal 2029.
In March, Keysight Technologies and Qualcomm began working together on the use of radio frequency (RF) digital twins.
