Qualcomm on Monday announced plans to launch processors designed for data centers to power artificial intelligence, which will link to Nvidia’s chips. The company said it is planning to launch a custom CPU for the data center that can connect to Nvidia’s GPUs and software.
Nvidia’s graphics processing units (GPUs) have become an important component in data centers used to train huge AI models that power applications like chatbots, and so a link to Nvidia’s infrastructure is considered crucial for companies trying to crack into the data center market.
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“I think we see a lot of growth happening in this space for decades to come, and we have some technology that can add real value,” Cristiano Amon, CEO of Qualcomm, told CNBC in an interview on Monday. “So, I think we have a very disruptive CPU.” Amin also added that the company will announce the CPU roadmap and the timing of its release “very soon,” without offering specifics.
Getting into the data center business has been seen as an attempt for Qualcomm to diversify its business, which has traditionally been dominated by sales of processors and modems for smartphones. Mario Morales, group vice president of semiconductors and enabling technologies at the International Data Corporation, said that Qualcomm’s entrance into the data center space is a good move to help its diversification — and that the market is large enough for a new entrant.
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“Over the coming five years, the data center will be the fastest growing segment for the semi market as a whole and in the last three years, we’ve seen the tremendous growth from Nvidia, but companies like Qualcomm have not benefited from that growth because they haven’t had a position in the space,” Morales said.
This also comes shortly after Qualcomm signed a memorandum of understanding with Humain, a Saudi Arabia-based AI firm operating under the Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.