Qualcomm to acquire Alphawave Semi for $2.4 billion; says its high-speed wired tech will accelerate AI data center expansion
Qualcomm Inc. has agreed to buy London-listed semiconductor company Alphawave IP Group Plc (“Alphawave Semi”) for about $2.4 billion in cash to expand its technology for artificial intelligence (AI) in data centers. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory and shareholder approval.
Alphawave Semi is claimed to be a global leader in high-speed wired connectivity and compute technologies delivering IP, custom silicon, connectivity products and chiplets. It’s products ‘form a part of the core infrastructure enabling next generation services in a wide array of high growth applications’ such as data centers, AI, data networking and data storage, according to the press release.
Regarding connectivity, Alphawave Semi develops industry leading PAM4 and Coherent DSP products in the most advanced technologies for all forms of data center connectivity.
Alphawave (which held an initial public offering in 2021 at 410 pence per share) has consistently traded below that level. The company had struggled with a reliance on large customers and navigating geopolitical tensions between the US and China, where Alphawave decided to cut back its business last year.
Still, the company’s technology has been gaining traction and had reported a surge in orders in the fourth quarter. Chief Executive Officer Tony Pialis said in a statement at the time that orders from North American AI customers were driving the business.
Qualcomm Chief Executive Officer Cristiano Amon is looking to reduce the company’s reliance on the smartphone market, where growth has slowed, and push into new areas. Alphawave makes high-speed semiconductor and connectivity technology that can be used for data centers and AI applications, two growth areas in the chip industry that are being driven by demand for products like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Image credit: Qualcomm / Alphawave Semi
“Qualcomm’s acquisition of Alphawave Semi represents a significant milestone for us and an opportunity for our business to join forces with a respected industry leader and drive value to our customers,” said Tony Pialis, president and CEO of Alphawave Semi. “By combining our resources and expertise, we will be well-positioned to expand our product offerings, reach a broader customer base, and enhance our technological capabilities. Together, we will unlock new opportunities for growth, drive innovation, and create a leading player in AI compute and connectivity solutions.”
“Under Tony’s leadership Alphawave Semi has developed leadi
ng high-speed wired connectivity and compute technologies that are complementary to our power-efficient CPU and NPU cores,” said Mr. Amon. “Qualcomm’s advanced custom processors are a natural fit for data center workloads. The combined teams share the goal of building advanced technology solutions and enabling next-level connected computing performance across a wide array of high growth areas, including data center infrastructure.”
References:
https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2025/06/qualcomm-to-acquire-alphawave-semi
https://www.telecoms.com/enterprise-telecoms/qualcomm-to-purchase-alphawave-semi
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