Why Is QCOM Stock Rising Premarket?

The chipmaker is reportedly in talks with ByteDance about a deal for its chip design services.

• Qualcomm is hosting its investor day event on Wednesday, with management remarks scheduled in the afternoon.
• The chips being discussed for ByteDance would incorporate some technology from AlphaWave Semi, the high-speed connectivity firm Qualcomm acquired last year, Reuters reported.
• Stocktwits sentiment for QCOM remained ‘bearish.’

Shares of Qualcomm, Inc. rose 2.2% in premarket trading on Wednesday after reports indicated that the chipmaker is in talks with Chinese interest giant ByteDance for a new contract.

Reuters reported, citing sources, that Qualcomm is in discussions to provide chip-design services to the TikTok parent as it seeks to reduce dependence ​on the smartphone market, its biggest revenue source.

The chips being discussed for ByteDance would incorporate some technology from AlphaWave Semi, the high-speed connectivity firm Qualcomm acquired last year. The negotiations remain ongoing, however, and ByteDance could still opt to work with other partners, the report said.

If the talks materialize into a deal, ByteDance would become an early customer of Qualcomm’s chip-design services.

The report also signals that U.S. tech firms remain keen to do business with China, ​even as growing friction between Washington and Beijing over AI chips has ⁠impacted the likes of Nvidia, AMD, and others.

QCOM Investor Day

Meanwhile, investors are setting up for Qualcomm’s investor day event, where the firm is expected to highlight opportunities in AI-driven data centers, automotive, and industrial computing, alongside its emerging custom chip design and AI infrastructure ambitions. 

The company’s management will share its remarks on a livestream at 2:15 pm ET on Wednesday.

The development follows reports that Qualcomm is eyeing the acquisition of AI startup Modular for $4 billion. operates a specialized platform designed to help developers seamlessly deploy AI models across various computer architectures without needing to overhaul their codebase.

Retail View On QCOM

On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment for QCOM remained ‘bearish,’ unchanged since the start of last week, with analysts noting speculation about ByteDance.

“$QCOM is the big deal hyperscalar that qcom has been touting.....bytedance?” remarked a trader. Traders also expressed optimism over the launch of new Meta smartglasses, which use specialized Qualcomm processors.

QCOM stock is up 21% year to date, compared to the 7.6% gain in the benchmark S&P 500 index.

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