Qualcomm is in discussions to acquire Tenstorrent, the AI chip startup led by veteran chip designer Jim Keller, for a reported price of between $8 billion and $10 billion, according to multiple industry sources. The talks are ongoing and no agreement has been announced. Both Qualcomm and Tenstorrent initially declined to comment on the reports.
The potential deal, first reported by The Information and later picked up by Reuters, would mark one of the largest acquisitions in Qualcomm’s history. Tenstorrent specializes in RISC-V based AI accelerator chips designed to outperform GPU-based systems on the inference workloads that now dominate AI infrastructure costs. Keller, who has previously worked at AMD, Apple, and Tesla, has built Tenstorrent as a direct alternative to Nvidia’s GPU architecture.
Qualcomm, headquartered in San Diego, generates the bulk of its revenue from smartphone chips but has been trying to grow in data center and AI hardware markets. An acquisition of Tenstorrent would hand the company a ready-built architecture and engineering team focused on AI workloads that differ from Qualcomm’s existing product lines.
Qualcomm shares jumped more than 4 percent following the initial reports of the talks. If the deal closes at the high end of the reported estimate, it would signal a significant bet on non-Nvidia AI infrastructure at a time when enterprise customers are beginning to explore alternatives. Tenstorrent had previously raised funding from investors including Samsung and Hyundai Motor.
The outcome of the talks has not yet been determined. Analysts tracking the semiconductor sector noted that the reported price range reflects a substantial premium over Tenstorrent’s last publicly known valuation and suggests Qualcomm sees strategic urgency in closing a deal quickly. The AI chip market competition has intensified considerably since late 2024.
Investors and industry observers are watching to see whether Qualcomm can close a deal of this size while managing regulatory review timelines. Chip sector acquisitions above $5 billion have drawn scrutiny from competition authorities in the United States and Europe in recent years. More details on the state of negotiations are expected to emerge from Qualcomm’s next investor communication. The company’s AI chip strategy has been a recurring topic in recent earnings calls, and a deal of this magnitude would answer many of the questions raised in those conversations. Rival AI models continue to drive demand for non-GPU inference hardware.
