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Qualcomm is one of the biggest semiconductor companies making chipsets. Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Qualcomm shares rose in premarket trading Monday following reports that it's partnering with OpenAI to create smartphone processing chips to advance the AI firm's hardware ambitions. The U.S. smartphone chipmaker is set to work alongside Taiwanese semiconductor firm MediaTek to develop the chip for OpenAI, with Chinese manufacturer Luxshare co-designing and building the device, Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst at TF International Securities, said on X on Monday. Mass production of the device is expected in 2028, according to Kuo. Qualcomm was last up 12% in premarket trading. The stock is down 13% so far this year.
Stock Chart Icon Stock chart icon Qualcomm's stock year to date.
Qualcomm, OpenAI, and MediaTek did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment confirming the partnership. "Only by fully controlling both the operating system and hardware can OpenAI deliver a comprehensive AI agent service," Kuo said in the post. "The smartphone is the only device that captures the user's full real-time state, which is the most important input for real-time AI agent inference." He explained that smartphones will remain the "largest-scale device category" in the immediate future, and it makes sense for OpenAI to develop a device that is entirely run by AI as the firm has accumulated user data over the years. "Smartphone hardware is already highly mature, so OpenAI can work with the supply chain to develop the device," Kuo said. "On the business model side, OpenAI may bundle subscriptions with hardware and build a new AI agent ecosystem with developers."
OpenAI smartphone ambitions