Qualcomm Is the Most Underrated AI Chipmaker to Buy

Marc Guberti, The Motley Fool

Tue, June 30, 2026 astatine 10:05 AM CDT 4 min read

Qualcomm's (NASDAQ: QCOM) 51% full instrumentality implicit the past 5 years looks atrocious if you comparison it to Nvidia and Broadcom, which posted five-year returns of 920% and 720%, respectively. That spread is simply a effect of Qualcomm's precocious introduction into the artificial quality (AI) spot race.

But Qualcomm conscionable shared immoderate quality that changes the full concern thesis for the company, turning it into 1 of the astir compelling AI stocks virtually overnight.

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What was the large news?

Qualcomm issued a quality merchandise connected June 24 that highlighted its information halfway strategy. It touted "multiple inflection points" it sees coming implicit the adjacent 3 to 5 years. Management believes it tin execute semipermanent maturation successful the agentic AI era, and its assertive goals bespeak that.

It boosted its 2029 guidance people to $40 billion, which is astir 2 times higher than the erstwhile 2029 target. Qualcomm besides told investors that it is aiming for much than $15 cardinal successful AI infrastructure gross from information centers by fiscal 2029.

The maturation is expected to proceed good beyond 2029. The quality merchandise went connected to item however information centers, robotics, concern AI, idiosyncratic AI, and agentic AI are immoderate of the catalysts that volition proceed to fortify Qualcomm's financials beyond fiscal 2029. CEO Cristiano Amon said the institution is "in a beardown presumption to seizure these opportunities."

The institution believes it volition person a $1.7 trillion full addressable marketplace by 2030. This marketplace size, positive Grand View Research's projected 30.6% compound yearly maturation complaint for the AI marketplace done 2033, explains wherefore investors are starting to get bullish connected Qualcomm stock.

The introduction into AI is already translating into much income

Qualcomm makes astir of its wealth selling chips for smartphones, and the saturated information of that marketplace has weighed connected the banal for years. Revenue dipped by 3% twelvemonth implicit twelvemonth successful its fiscal 2026 2nd quarter, and it has woefully underperformed Nvidia and Broadcom contempt the information that each 3 companies nutrient microchips.

However, acknowledgment to its caller absorption connected AI, Qualcomm asserts that its signifier of declining gross and profits is coming to an end. The institution has already announced 2 partnerships to marque customized silicon for starring hyperscalers, though it has not named which ones they are. Its AI inference accelerators and application-specific integrated circuits springiness it the imaginable to rapidly standard up successful the industry.