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Qualcomm announces new data center AI chips to target AI inference

Qualcomm announced Monday that it will release new artificial intelligence accelerator chips, marking new competition for Nvidia, which has so far dominated the market for AI semiconductors.

The stock soared 15% following the news.

The AI chips are a shift from Qualcomm, which has thus far focused on semiconductors for wireless connectivity and mobile devices, not massive data centers.

Qualcomm said that both the AI200, which will go on sale in 2026, and the AI250, planned for 2027, can come in a system that fills up a full, liquid-cooled server rack.

Qualcomm is matching Nvidia and AMD, which offer their graphics processing units, or GPUs, in full-rack systems that allow as many as 72 chips to act as one computer. AI labs need that computing power to run the most advanced models.

Qualcomm’s data center chips are based on the AI parts in Qualcomm’s smartphone chips called Hexagon neural processing units, or NPUs.

“We first wanted to prove ourselves in other domains, and once we built our strength over there, it was pretty easy for us to go up a notch into the data center level,” Durga Malladi, Qualcomm’s general manager for data center and edge, said on a call with reporters last week.

The entry of Qualcomm into the data center world marks new competition in the fastest-growing market in technology: equipment for new AI-focused server farms.

Nearly $6.7 trillion in capital expenditures will be spent on data centers through 2030, with the majority going to systems based around AI chips, according to a McKinsey estimate.

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The industry has been dominated by Nvidia, whose GPUs have over 90% of the market so far and sales of which have driven the company to a market cap of over $4.5 trillion. Nvidia’s chips were used to train OpenAI’s GPTs, the large language models used in ChatGPT.

But companies such as OpenAI have been looking for alternatives, and earlier this month the startup announced plans to buy chips from the second-place GPU maker, AMD, and potentially take a stake in the company. Other companies, such as Google, Amazon and Microsoft, are also developing their own AI accelerators for their cloud services.

Qualcomm said its chips are focusing on inference, or running AI models, instead of training, which is how labs such as OpenAI create new AI capabilities by processing terabytes of data.

The chipmaker said that its rack-scale systems would ultimately cost less to operate for customers such as cloud service providers, and that a rack uses 160 kilowatts, which is comparable to the high power draw from some Nvidia GPU racks.

Malladi said Qualcomm would also sell its AI chips and other parts separately, especially for clients such as hyperscalers that prefer to design their own racks. He said other AI chip companies, such as Nvidia or AMD, could even become clients for some of Qualcomm’s data center parts, such as its central processing unit, or CPU.

“What we have tried to do is make sure that our customers are in a position to either take all of it or say, ‘I’m going to mix and match,'” Malladi said.

The company declined to comment, the price of the chips, cards or rack, and how many NPUs could be installed in a single rack. In May, Qualcomm announced a partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Humain to supply data centers in the region with AI inferencing chips, and it will be Qualcomm’s customer, committing to deploy up to as many systems as can use 200 megawatts of power.

Qualcomm said its AI chips have advantages over other accelerators in terms of power consumption, cost of ownership, and a new approach to the way memory is handled. It said its AI cards support 768 gigabytes of memory, which is higher than offerings from Nvidia and AMD.

Qualcomm’s design for an AI server called AI200.

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Armis raises $435 million, valuing cybersecurity startup at $6.1 billion

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Armis raises 5 million, valuing cybersecurity startup at .1 billion

Armis CEO Yevgeny Dibrov and CTO Nadir Izrael.

Courtesy: Armis

Cybersecurity startup Armis has raised $435 million in a funding round that values the company at $6.1 billion.

“The need for what Armis is doing and what we are building, in this cyber exposure management and security platform, is just increasing,” CEO and co-founder Yevgeny Dibrov told CNBC. There’s “very unique and huge demand right now, and we are continuing to grow.”

Goldman Sachs Alternatives’ growth equity fund anchored the investment, with participation from CapitalG, a venture arm of Alphabet. The security firm brought on Evolution Equity Partners as a new investor.

Armis helps businesses secure and manage internet-connected devices and protect them against cyber threats. The company chose Goldman’s growth fund due to its strong track record helping companies accelerate growth toward initial public offerings, Dibrov said.

“This is the partner for us to go to the next stage and continue to build here a real generational business to get to the Hall of Fame of cyber and SaaS businesses,” he said.

In September, Bloomberg reported that the company was exploring as much as seven stake offers. Dibrov told CNBC the funding round was an outcome of those talks.

Founded in 2016, Armis in August said it surpassed $300 million in annual recurring revenues. The California-based company achieved that milestone less than a year after topping $200 million in ARR.

Armis raised $200 million in an October 2024 funding round with General Catalyst and Alkeon Capital. Previous backers have included Sequioa Capital and Bain Capital Ventures. Armis also raised $100 million in a secondary offering in July.

Dibrov said Armis is aiming for an IPO at the end of 2026 or early 2027, but he said he’s in no rush and is waiting on “market conditions.” The company’s primary goal is to hit $1 billion in annual recurring revenue, he said.

“Going public will be before that,” he said.

WATCH: Tech meets policy: Cybersecurity collaboration necessary in the era AI, says Google engineer

Tech meets policy: Cybersecurity collaboration necessary in the era AI, says Google engineer

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TASER maker Axon plunges 17% after earnings fall short due to tariff hit

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 TASER maker Axon plunges 17% after earnings fall short due to tariff hit

Rick Smith, CEO of Axon Enterprises.

Adam Jeffery | CNBC

Axon Enterprise‘s stock plummeted 17% after the TASER maker missed Wall Street’s third-quarter profit expectations as it grapples with tariff constraints.

Adjusted earnings totaled $1.17 per share adj., falling short of a $1.52 per share forecast from LSEG. Adjusted gross margins fell 50 basis points from a year ago to 62.7%, which Axon attributed to tariff impacts.

Axon’s connected devices business, which includes its TASER and counter drone equipment, felt the biggest pinch during the first full quarter with tariffs. The business segment accounted for over $405 million in revenues, increasing 24% year over year.

“As long as tariffs stay in place, I view that as sort of a one-time adjustment,” finance chief Brittany Bagley said during the earnings call. “Now that’s baked into the gross margins.”

Bagley expects growth in the company’s software business to eventually offset margin losses long-term. Software and services revenues jumped 41% from a year ago to $305 million.

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Total revenues grew 31% from a year ago to $711 million, topping the $704 million expected by analysts polled by LSEG. The U.S. accounted for 84% of sales.

The Arizona-based company reported a net loss of $2.2 million, a loss of 3 cents per share, versus net income of $67 million, or 86 cents per share in the year-ago period.

Axon lifted its full-year revenue outlook to $2.74 billion, from between $2.65 billion and $2.73 billion. FactSet analysts expected $2.72 billion at the midpoint.

The company expects revenues between $750 million and $755 million during the fourth quarter, which was above LSEG analyst expectations of $746 million.

Along with the results, Axon said it is acquiring Carbyne in a deal that values the emergency communications platform at $625 million. The deal is expected to close next year in the first quarter.

Axon shares have jumped more than 60% over the last year and are up 18% year to date as demand for its security tools accelerates.

“We are building an elite business that is still nowhere near its ultimate potential, and we are doing it with a team that is rapidly bought into the mission,” said Axon’s president Josh Isner on the earnings call.

We're in amazing position to take advantage of the AI era, says Axon CEO Rick Smith

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Fintech Ripple gets $40 billion valuation after $500 million funding

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Fintech Ripple gets  billion valuation after 0 million funding

Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, speaks at the 2022 Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., May 4, 2022. 

Mike Blake | Reuters

Digital assets and infrastructure company Ripple said Wednesday it has raised $500 million in funding, lifting its valuation to $40 billion.

The fundraise comes after a slew of acquisitions and as the company expands its product base beyond just payments.

Crypto and digital asset companies are trying to take advantage of what is seen by the industry as a more favorable environment in the U.S. after the election of President Donald Trump and the passing of a landmark stablecoin law known as the GENIUS Act.

Ripple, which is closely linked to the XRP cryptocurrency, said the funding round was led by funds managed by affiliates of Fortress Investment Group, affiliates of Citadel Securities, Pantera Capital, Galaxy Digital, Brevan Howard, and Marshall Wace.

‘Record year of growth’

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