Alphabet Discloses $548 Million Stake in Qualcomm as Chipmaker Pushes Into Data Centres

The position, disclosed in Alphabet's quarterly report of equity holdings for the period to September 30, amounts to nearly 3 million shares, less than half a percent of Qualcomm's outstanding stock, The Information reported. GuruFocus said Qualcomm shares rose more than 3% in premarket trading after the disclosure.

The stake is small relative to Qualcomm's size, but it links one of the largest buyers of AI computing with a chip company seeking a foothold in that market. Qualcomm has reported falling sales of smartphone chips, its largest business, and is betting on data centre processors as a source of growth. Google already designs its own AI accelerators, the tensor processing units it uses in its cloud and offers to outside customers.

The filing does not explain why Alphabet bought the shares, and it does not say whether the two companies plan to work together commercially. Quarterly holdings reports of this kind show positions as of the last day of the quarter, so they do not reveal when the shares were bought or whether any have been sold since.

Alphabet's largest disclosed holding remains SpaceX. The same filing shows Alphabet lifted that stake to more than 555 million shares from 551.2 million, according to GuruFocus. Qualcomm became the sixth-largest position in the portfolio, according to several reports on the filing.

Chip shares have been volatile this week. Semiconductor stocks fell sharply on Thursday as investors weighed the effect of the US midterm results on data centre construction, before recovering part of the losses on Friday.

Neither Alphabet nor Qualcomm had commented on the stake. Alphabet's next holdings report, covering the quarter to December 31, will show whether it has added to or reduced the position.