Qualcomm, best known for powering smartphones, is pushing deeper into artificial intelligence infrastructure through two notable partnerships, according to Insider Monkey.
The company has struck a collaboration with SLB — the energy and technology services giant formerly known as Schlumberger — and reached a separate chip agreement with ByteDance, the Chinese tech conglomerate behind TikTok.
The moves signal that Qualcomm is actively positioning itself beyond its traditional mobile chip business, seeking a foothold in the fast-growing market for AI computing hardware and services. Partnering with SLB suggests Qualcomm sees industrial and energy sectors as a frontier for AI-capable silicon, while a deal with ByteDance — one of the world's most data-intensive companies — indicates ambitions in large-scale AI workloads that require specialized chips.
The ByteDance agreement is particularly notable given the geopolitical sensitivities around U.S. chip exports to Chinese firms, though the specific terms and scope of both deals were not detailed in available reporting from Insider Monkey.
For everyday consumers, this matters because it reflects a broader industry race: established chipmakers are scrambling to diversify revenue streams as AI infrastructure spending surges globally, and the companies that lock in key partnerships now could shape which hardware powers the AI tools billions of people will use in the coming years.