RBC Raises Qualcomm Price Target to $180 as Amazon Partnership Opens Door to AI Data Center Market
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Qualcomm signed an AI chip supply deal with AWS, prompting RBC to lift its target to $180; but management left near-term guidance unchanged — signaling the deal formalizes an existing relationship more than it creates new revenue.
What did the two sides actually sign?
Amazon will purchase Qualcomm's server chips, technology, systems, and manufacturing services — far broader than a single-product order.
In return, Qualcomm issued warrants letting Amazon buy up to 25 million shares at a strike price of $161.26 per share.
Warrant vesting is tied to purchase orders, with a maximum trigger of $60 billion; an initial 3.75 million shares vest immediately, and the rest unlock at commercial milestones.
This means → Amazon doesn't get free stock — it earns equity by buying more, locking the two companies into a deep mutual commitment.
Why did RBC raise its target?
RBC analyst Srini Pajjuri lifted his Qualcomm target from $160 to $180, maintaining an "sector perform" rating.
His math: if the warrants vest in full, the deal could add roughly $6 billion per year over about a decade.
In plain terms = management's prior data-center target was about $5 billion by fiscal 2027 — this single deal dwarfs that plan.
Why didn't management raise its revenue guidance?
Pajjuri flagged that Qualcomm did not raise fiscal 2026/2027 revenue guidance.
This means → the deal largely formalizes — and possibly extends — an existing partnership, rather than representing an entirely new business win.
Management expects to begin booking deal revenue in the December 2026 quarter; some projects are already in volume production.
What does this partnership mean for Qualcomm?
Amazon is now confirmed as one of Qualcomm's two hyperscaler cloud customers, giving Qualcomm a foothold in the AI data-center race.
This reflects a broader shift: Qualcomm is moving from a mobile-chip company toward a data-center supplier, and Amazon's scale and custom-chip demand provide an anchor for that transition.
Whether the deal hits its milestones — and revenue materializes by late 2026 — will be the key test of this thesis.
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