China And Apple Took Half Their Revenue… But a New Nvidia-Linked Chip Could Be Qualcomm’s Lifeline

Qualcomm’s stock chart over the past year kinda looks like my neighbor’s golf game after two beers… off the fairway, in the weeds, and still somehow getting worse. The chipmaker is down 22% over the last 12 months, and to add some context, it’s not the market being mean. Qualcomm’s been caught in a one-two punch that would make even Muhammid Ali scared.

Problem #1 is (you guessed it) China. 46% of Qualcomm’s revenue comes from the country, and with the U.S.–China tech rivalry heating up at microwave level speeds, that’s not exactly the most stable stream of income. Between geopolitical tension, export controls, and China pushing homegrown alternatives, Qualcomm’s relationship with the mainland is feeling less “mutually beneficial” and more like a long-distance situationship where one side just ghosted.

Which brings us to problem #2… Apple. The one customer you never want to lose is the one worth nearly $3T. For years, Apple’s been using Qualcomm’s modem chips in iPhones, but now Tim Cook’s crew is rolling up their sleeves and building their own in-house modems. That’s like if McDonald’s told Coke, “Hey, we’re gonna make our own soda now. Don’t call us.” So yeah… things have been rough.

But this morning, Qualcomm said “screw it” and announced they’re getting back into the data center CPU game… with a big change. These new processors are designed to play nice with Nvidia’s GPUs and software. And if you’re trying to get into the AI data center space, that’s not a bad friend to have. Nvidia isn’t just winning the AI race… they are the race. Their chips are the central nervous system of anything that goes brrrrr in the machine-learning world.

Qualcomm’s CEO Cristiano Amon said the new chips will help power “high-performance, energy-efficient computing” in AI data centers. He’s calling them “disruptive CPUs”... which is great marketing, even if nobody knows what that means yet.

Let’s not forget… this isn’t Qualcomm’s first crack at the data center game. Back in the 2010s, they made a push with Arm-based CPUs and even tested chips with Meta (back when it was still just Facebook and people still used it unironically). But between massive cost cuts, legal battles, and a smartphone business that demanded all hands on deck, the project quietly fizzled out. But this time, they’ve got an all-star team of ex-Apple chip designers (from the Nuvia acquisition), and they’ve reportedly even been chatting up Meta again about using these new CPUs. They’ve also inked a deal with Saudi Arabia’s AI firm Humain (a buzzy startup backed by the kingdom’s $700B Public Investment Fund) to help build out next-gen data centers in the Middle East. Could this be Qualcomm’s ticket to global relevance? Maybe. Or maybe it ends up as another flashy press release that ages like milk. Time will tell.

Needless to say, Qualcomm’s whole plan here is clear: diversify or die. Smartphones aren’t the moneymakers they used to be. Apple’s bailing. China’s up in the air. And the AI train is moving fast… either hop on or get left behind. IDC analyst Mario Morales says the data center is “the fastest-growing segment” in semiconductors over the next five years, and Qualcomm has “not benefited” from the AI wave yet. Which makes you wonder, “Why the hell weren’t they doing this already?”

But here’s the catch: Intel, AMD, Amazon, Microsoft… they’re all already elbows-deep in this space. And Nvidia is building its own Arm-based CPUs too. So Qualcomm has to not only catch up but somehow outrun the titans who’ve been here for years.

Still, if they actually deliver a chip that’s efficient, AI-optimized, and Nvidia-compatible… and can get major cloud providers to bite? There’s a world where this comeback could pay off.

PS: It’s a mess out there.

One day the market’s ripping, the next day it’s Black Monday all over again. Recent earning’s reports have been a total coin flip. One stock beats and explodes 30%… the next misses by a penny and gets sent to the Shadow Realm. And through it all, everyone’s begging for Jerome Powell to finally cave and cut rates.

But underneath all the panic headlines (“Inflation too sticky!” “Recession imminent!” “Tariffs round 4 incoming!”) something wild is happening…

We’re seeing violent price action. Especially in the small-cap space, where low floats and high anxiety are creating the perfect recipe for 100%+ pops before lunchtime. Some of these names are moving 200%+ in under 24 hours… and to our knowledge, NO ONE else is covering them.

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Stock.News has positions in Apple, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Meta, Intel, Amazon, and Microsoft.