Qualcomm acquires AI startup Modular for approximately 640 billion yen.
Semiconductor company Qualcomm has announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Modular, an AI software development startup. Through this acquisition, Qualcomm aims to strengthen its AI business, which spans from devices to data centers, and to create an environment where developers and companies can easily deploy AI on a variety of semiconductors.
Qualcomm to Acquire Modular | Qualcomm
Modular: Qualcomm to Acquire Modular
https://www.modular.com/blog/qualcomm-to-acquire-modular
Qualcomm to buy startup Modular for $4 billion in AI software push | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/business/qualcomm-buy-ai-startup-modular-2026-06-24/
Qualcomm Is Said to Near Deal for AI Software Firm Modular - Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-22/qualcomm-is-said-to-near-deal-for-ai-chip-startup-modular
Qualcomm is diversifying its business away from a model where smartphone chips account for the majority of its revenue, and is trying to increase its presence in the data center market, introducing data center processors and other products that are scheduled to ship by the end of the year.
Modular provides a software platform for efficiently running AI models on different semiconductor architectures, including CPUs, GPUs, NPUs, and custom ASICs. Because developers can develop, optimize, and run AI without rewriting code for each accelerator, it is said to reduce deployment effort and total cost of ownership.
Of particular importance is improving efficiency in the inference process that runs AI models. Qualcomm positions power consumption per unit of performance as a key factor in inference costs, and it appears that by combining Modular software, they aim to optimize inference, management, and deployment in distributed AI systems.
The transaction is for stock consideration and is valued at approximately $3.92 billion (approximately 601 billion yen). Qualcomm plans to issue up to 19.2 million shares of common stock to Modular's shareholders, and the acquisition is expected to be completed in the second half of 2026, subject to normal procedures and regulatory approvals.
As of June 23rd, it was reported that Qualcomm had entered the final stages of negotiations to acquire Modular for approximately $4 billion (approximately 640 billion yen). At the time, there were suggestions that the terms might change or that the agreement might not be reached, but the following day Qualcomm officially announced the acquisition agreement.
In recent years, Qualcomm has been expanding its business through small-scale acquisitions. In 2018, its acquisition of NXP Semiconductors was withdrawn after failing to obtain regulatory approval, but in 2025 it agreed to acquire Alphawave IP Group for $2.4 billion (approximately 368 billion yen) in cash. On the day the Modular acquisition was announced, Qualcomm shares fell by about 4% in morning trading, but according to Bloomberg, the company's shares were up 30% year-to-date as of June 23.
by Kārlis Dambrāns
Modular has operated as a neutral software layer supporting chips from multiple semiconductor companies, including NVIDIA and AMD. This acquisition could allow Qualcomm to strengthen its competitive edge against NVIDIA's CUDA-based developer base by offering an open software environment usable across multiple hardware platforms.
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