CNBC’s Sara Eisen and Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon join 'Squawk Box' to discuss the release of its new AI accelerator chips, partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Humain, state of the AI chip race, and more. ...

Core Insights - Qualcomm has launched AI200 and AI250 chip-based AI accelerator cards and racks, optimized for AI inference in data centers, utilizing its NPU technology [1][9] - The AI250 features a near-memory computing architecture that provides 10x effective memory bandwidth while optimizing power consumption [2] - The global AI inference market is projected to reach $97.24 billion in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 17.5% from 2025 to 2030, indicating a significant growth opportunity for Qualcomm [3] Product Offerings - The AI200 is designed for large language models and multimodal model inference, offering a lower total cost of ownership [2] - Qualcomm's solutions are characterized by high memory capacity, affordability, and flexibility, making them suitable for modern AI data center needs [4] - HUMAIN, a global AI company, has chosen Qualcomm's AI200 and AI250 solutions for high-performance AI inference services [4] Competitive Landscape - Qualcomm competes with NVIDIA, Intel, and AMD in the AI inference market [5] - NVIDIA offers a robust portfolio for AI inference infrastructure, including products like Blackwell and H200 [5] - Intel has launched the Crescent Island GPU optimized for AI inference workloads, while AMD's MI350 Series GPU has set new benchmarks in generative AI [6][7] Financial Performance - Qualcomm shares have increased by 9.3% over the past year, compared to the industry's growth of 62% [8] - The company's shares trade at a forward price/earnings ratio of 15.73, lower than the industry average of 37.93 [10] - Earnings estimates for 2025 remain unchanged, while estimates for 2026 have improved by 0.25% to $11.91 [11]

Group 1 - The stock market is experiencing a rally, with the Dow up 327 points (0.7%), the S&P 500 up 0.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite rising 0.6% [1] - Positive developments in U.S.-China trade relations and Qualcomm's announcement of new AI chips have contributed to the market's upward momentum [2] - Investors are preparing for significant upcoming events, including interest rate decisions from central banks in the U.S., Europe, Canada, and Japan, as well as quarterly reports from major tech companies [2]

Core Viewpoint - The individual investor adopts a contrarian investment style, focusing on deep value opportunities, particularly in stocks that have recently experienced sell-offs due to non-recurrent events, while also considering insider buying as a positive signal [1] Investment Strategy - The investment portfolio is split approximately 50%-50% between shares and call options, indicating a balanced approach to risk and return [1] - The investor's timeframe for holding positions typically ranges from 3 to 24 months, suggesting a medium-term investment horizon [1] - Fundamental analysis is employed to assess the health of companies, including their leverage and financial ratios compared to sector and industry averages [1] Stock Selection Criteria - The investor screens thousands of stocks, primarily in the US, looking for those that have undergone recent sell-offs, especially when insiders are purchasing shares at lower prices [1] - Professional background checks are conducted on insiders who buy shares post-sell-off, adding a layer of due diligence to the investment process [1] Technical Analysis - Technical analysis is utilized to optimize entry and exit points, with a focus on support and resistance levels on weekly charts, employing multicolor lines for clarity [1] - Trend lines are occasionally drawn in multicolor patterns to assist in visualizing price movements [1]

Core Insights - Qualcomm's partnership with Humain in Saudi Arabia is seen as a strategic move but does not significantly alter its competitive position against Nvidia, which remains dominant in the AI chip market [1][3][6] Qualcomm's Position in the AI Market - The deal with Humain provides Qualcomm a foothold in the data center sector, yet the company faces substantial competition from Nvidia and AMD, which have larger order volumes from Humain [3][4] - Qualcomm's chips and software must demonstrate compatibility in a market largely built around Nvidia's CUDA platform, highlighting the challenge of establishing a competitive ecosystem [2][5] Strategic Moves and Challenges - Qualcomm's acquisition of Alphawave Semi for $2.4 billion indicates its commitment to developing AI infrastructure, but the transition from mobile to comprehensive computing presents high execution risks [4] - The AI chip landscape is not solely about hardware; it also involves creating a robust software ecosystem to ensure customer retention and repeat business, which Qualcomm must achieve to compete effectively [5][6]

Core Insights - Qualcomm has launched a new series of artificial intelligence chips to compete with Nvidia, which currently holds approximately 90% of the AI chip market [2][4] - The first chip in Qualcomm's AI series, the AI200, is expected to be commercially available in 2026, followed by the AI250 in 2027 [2] - Qualcomm's stock experienced a 20% increase following the announcement of its entry into the data center market [2] Company Strategy - Qualcomm plans to offer purpose-built AI server racks containing multiple AI chips for data centers, as well as standalone AI chips for enterprises to integrate into existing servers [3] - The company aims to position itself as an energy-efficient alternative in the AI chip market, focusing on long-term cost savings [4] Market Demand - There is a growing demand for AI inference chips due to increased adoption and new use cases, with major companies like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft developing their own AI chips [5] - An estimated $7 trillion will be spent on data centers through 2030, indicating significant investment opportunities in this sector [5] Competitive Landscape - Qualcomm joins other semiconductor companies like Intel and AMD in the AI chip market, seeking to diversify beyond its traditional smartphone business [6] - OpenAI has recently signed a $10 billion deal with Broadcom for custom AI chips, highlighting the competitive nature of the AI chip industry [7] Partnerships and Collaborations - Qualcomm has secured its first customer for the new AI chip series, Saudi Arabia's Humain, which plans to deploy the chips in its data centers starting in 2026 [7] - Humain is also launching a $10 billion venture fund to support AI initiatives, indicating a strong interest in AI infrastructure development [8]

Core Insights - Qualcomm has launched next-generation AI inference optimization solutions for data centers, including acceleration cards and rack systems based on Qualcomm AI200 and AI250 chips, focusing on rack-level performance and memory capacity optimization to support generative AI inference across various industries [1][3]. Group 1: Qualcomm AI200 and AI250 Solutions - The Qualcomm AI200 solution is designed for rack-level AI inference, targeting large language models (LLM), multimodal models (LMM), and other AI workloads, with advantages in low total cost of ownership and performance optimization. Each acceleration card supports 768GB LPDDR memory, meeting high memory capacity needs while controlling costs [3][4]. - The Qualcomm AI250 solution introduces a near-memory computing architecture that achieves over 10 times effective memory bandwidth improvement while significantly reducing power consumption, enhancing efficiency and performance for AI inference workloads. It also features decoupled AI inference capabilities for efficient hardware resource utilization [3][4]. Group 2: Common Features and Software Support - Both Qualcomm AI200 and AI250 rack solutions share several common technical designs, including support for direct liquid cooling to enhance thermal efficiency, compatibility with PCIe vertical expansion and Ethernet horizontal expansion to meet various deployment needs, and built-in confidential computing features to ensure the security of AI workloads. The total power consumption for the entire rack is controlled at 160 kilowatts, aligning with data center energy management standards [3][4]. - Qualcomm provides a large-scale AI software stack that covers the entire link from application layer to system software layer, optimized for AI inference scenarios. This software stack supports mainstream machine learning frameworks, inference engines, generative AI frameworks, and decoupled services for LLM/LMM inference optimization [4][5]. Group 3: Future Plans - The Qualcomm AI200 is expected to be commercially available by 2026, while the AI250 is planned for market launch in 2027. Qualcomm aims to iteratively advance its data center product technology roadmap annually, focusing on optimizing AI inference performance, energy efficiency, and total cost of ownership to better meet the evolving demands of generative AI [5].

Amazon - Amazon is laying off 14,000 workers, marking the largest reduction in the company's history, with nearly every business unit expected to be affected [1][2] - The layoffs represent about 4% of Amazon's corporate and tech workforce, which totals over 1.5 million employees [2] - CEO Andy Jassy indicated that workforce reduction could be facilitated by embracing AI, as the company experiences increased productivity from AI technologies [3] Qualcomm - Qualcomm announced the release of new artificial intelligence accelerator chips, positioning itself as a competitor to Nvidia and AMD in the growing AI data center market [4][6] - The AI200 and AI250 chips are set to debut in 2026 and 2027, respectively, and are based on AI components already used in Qualcomm's smartphone chips [6] - Nvidia currently dominates the AI chip market, holding over 90% of the graphics processing units (GPUs) [6] - Qualcomm's stock surged 11% following the announcement, contributing to the S&P 500 reaching an all-time high above 6,800 [6] iRobot - iRobot's shares fell over 33% after the company announced that its search for a buyer has reached an impasse, with negotiations with the last remaining bidder failing [8][9] - The company has been seeking a buyer since March, following Amazon's withdrawal from its acquisition bid last year [9] Halloween Retail - Retail prices for Halloween goods have increased significantly, with some items seeing price jumps as high as 300% due to tariffs affecting suppliers [11] - The average consumer is expected to spend a record $114 on Halloween-related expenses this year, according to the National Retail Federation [12]

Core Insights - Qualcomm has launched AI200 and AI250 chips, aiming to compete directly with Nvidia in the data center AI chip market [2][3] - Following the announcement, Qualcomm's stock surged over 20% intraday, closing with an approximately 11% increase [2] - The AI200 chip, set to launch in 2026, supports up to 768GB of LPDDR memory, significantly surpassing Nvidia's latest GPU, which has 288GB of HBM3e memory [2][3] Product Details - The AI200 chip focuses on AI inference rather than model training, while the AI250, expected in 2027, will introduce a new near-memory computing architecture that claims over 10x effective memory bandwidth improvement and reduced power consumption [3] - Both chips utilize direct liquid cooling and support vertical expansion via PCIe and horizontal expansion through Ethernet, with a power consumption of 160 kW per rack [3] Strategic Shift - This launch marks a significant strategic shift for Qualcomm, which has primarily focused on wireless connectivity and mobile device semiconductors, now entering the data center AI chip market [3] - Qualcomm plans to adopt a similar product release cadence as Nvidia and AMD, introducing a new compute chip annually [3] Financial Context - Qualcomm's revenue is primarily derived from its semiconductor business (QCT) and technology licensing (QTL), with QCT revenue reaching $8.993 billion in Q3 2025, an 11% year-over-year increase [4] - The mobile chip segment generated $6.328 billion, a 7% increase, while automotive and IoT chip segments experienced double-digit growth, indicating potential for AI chips to become a new revenue growth driver [5] Competitive Landscape - Nvidia currently dominates the AI chip market, but companies like Qualcomm, OpenAI, Google, and Amazon are developing their own chips to reduce reliance on Nvidia, indicating increased competition in the sector [5]

Core Insights - Qualcomm (QCOM) shares increased by 11.1% to close at $187.68, supported by high trading volume, contrasting with a 0.2% loss over the past four weeks [1] Group 1: 5G Technology and Market Position - The accelerated rollout of 5G technology is benefiting Qualcomm, with a focus on building a licensing program in mobile, positioning the company to meet long-term revenue targets [2] - Qualcomm aims to transition from a wireless communications firm to a connected processor company for the intelligent edge, potentially expanding its total addressable market to approximately $900 billion by 2030 [2] Group 2: EDGE Networking and Automotive Trends - Qualcomm is experiencing strong traction in EDGE networking, enhancing connectivity across various sectors including automotive, business enterprises, and smart homes [3] - The company is contributing to automotive industry trends such as connected vehicles, in-car experience transformation, and vehicle electrification through its telematics and connectivity platforms [3] Group 3: Earnings Expectations - Qualcomm is expected to report quarterly earnings of $2.87 per share, reflecting a year-over-year increase of 6.7%, with revenues projected at $10.77 billion, up 5.2% from the previous year [4] - Despite positive earnings and revenue growth expectations, recent revisions to earnings estimates have been marginally lower, which may impact near-term stock price movements [5] Group 4: Industry Context - Qualcomm holds a Zacks Rank of 3 (Hold) within the Electronics - Semiconductors industry, alongside Diodes (DIOD), which experienced a 0.7% decline in the last trading session [6] - Diodes' consensus EPS estimate has remained unchanged, indicating a year-over-year decline of 11.6%, also holding a Zacks Rank of 3 (Hold) [7]