Qualcomm provided guarantees to Amazon in the form of stock options worth about $4 billion as part of a partnership to develop chips for artificial intelligence systems for data centers. The total cost of the joint project could be as high as $60 billion.
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The covered bond allows Amazon to buy Qualcomm stock – which is tied to a joint project between the two companies – at $161.26 per share as part of a deal worth up to $60 billion. Qualcomm shares have fallen 1% since the beginning of the year as consumer demand for smartphones declines; the chipmaker’s securities rose more than 7% after the deal was announced.
The two companies will collaborate to develop inference accelerators and launch trained artificial intelligence models. The market for the device has now become a key battleground among the largest semiconductor companies. As part of the joint project, Qualcomm and Amazon will also develop high-speed optical communications technologies, including solutions with throughputs up to 1.6 Tbps – which will help meet the needs of data center network equipment.
Qualcomm plans to make extensive use of the AWS (Amazon Web Services) platform when developing new chips – something the chipmaker stresses will help it shorten development cycles.
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