Qualcomm and Amazon Collaborate on Next-Generation AI Data Center Infrastructure

Qualcomm Technologies has announced a multi-generation collaboration with Amazon aimed at enabling customized silicon at scale for large-scale AI data centers, with the two companies working together specifically on AI inference. The companies are also collaborating on optical connectivity solutions supporting speeds up to 1.6 terabits per second, along with future generations of that technology.

As AI workloads continue growing rapidly, driving unprecedented demand for compute, storage, networking, memory bandwidth, and energy-efficient infrastructure, this collaboration combines Amazon Web Services' (AWS) broad, secure, and cost-effective AI infrastructure with Qualcomm's expertise in power-efficient processing, chip design, and system-level integration.

Qualcomm and Amazon will also work together on high-performance optical connectivity solutions designed to support the growing scale and bandwidth needs of AI infrastructure. This work will draw on Qualcomm's advanced SerDes technology, which handles high-speed data conversion between serial and parallel formats, and its optical digital signal processing (DSP) technology.

As part of the expanded partnership, Qualcomm plans to increase its own use of AWS AI infrastructure, including Amazon Bedrock, for electronic design automation (EDA) workloads, meaning the software Qualcomm uses to design its own chips, with the goal of shortening chip design cycles.

Cristiano Amon, president and CEO of Qualcomm, said that as AI demand accelerates, data center infrastructure will need advances in both computing and connectivity to deliver greater performance more efficiently. He said Qualcomm is pleased to work with AWS on customized silicon and connectivity solutions, bringing decades of experience in advanced processing and power-efficient compute to deliver breakthrough performance and support the next generation of AI infrastructure.

Prasad Kalyanaraman, vice president at AWS, said the collaboration with Qualcomm builds on a strong existing partnership and reflects a shared commitment to pushing the boundaries of what's possible. He said that by working together on customized silicon and advanced connectivity, the companies are delivering more capable, efficient, and cost-effective infrastructure for their customers.