Semiconductor giant Qualcomm is seeking to expand its AI tech portfolio with an agreement to purchase custom silicon firm Alphawave IP Group (“Alphawave Semi”) in a deal valued at roughly $2.4 billion. UK-based Alphawave makes chips used in artificial intelligence and data centers. The deal follows months of talks between the San Diego-based Qualcomm and Alphawave, which was identified as an acquisition target in April. “AI inferencing growth is driving demand for Qualcomm’s high-performance energy-efficient compute solutions and this acquisition provides key assets for our expansion into data centers,” Qualcomm explained in disclosing the deal.

Alphawave produces high-speed wired connectivity components for linking chips, and other compute technologies that complement Qualcomm’s next-gen custom Qualcomm Oryon CPU and Qualcomm Hexagon NPU processors, Qualcomm said in an announcement.

The Wall Street Journal reports Alphawave tech speeds data transfer using lower power, adding that “it serves customers in high-growth markets such as data centers, artificial intelligence, 5G wireless infrastructure, data networking, autonomous vehicles and solid-state storage.”

SiliconANGLE describes Qualcomm’s Hexagon as a series of NPUs optimized to run AI models, adding that “Qualcomm doesn’t ship them on their own but rather as part of systems-on-a-chip for smartphones, laptops and mixed reality headsets.”

“Alphawave designs interconnects that can be used to link together multiple compute modules into a single SoC,” SiliconANGLE explains, citing a specific interconnect, AresCORE, as “geared towards the data center chip market where Qualcomm hopes to grow its presence.”

AresCORE is capable of transmitting data between SoC modules “at a rate of up to 64 gigabits per second per millimeter of shoreline,” SiliconANGLE adds, noting that shoreline is the surface area of a chip on all sides.

Qualcomm expects the deal to close during Q1 2026, subject to the conditions as set forth in a separate announcement that includes details in accordance with Rule 2.7 of the UK Takeover Code.

In other news, Qualcomm has opened an AI R&D center in Vietnam where researchers “will focus on advancing generative and agentic AI solutions across smartphones, personal computers, XR, automotive and IoT applications,” Reuters reports.

RCR Wireless News says the new facility is “staffed by scientists and AI experts in both Hanoi and Ho Chí Minh City,” and is part of Qualcomm’s global AI Research division.