Qualcomm acquires Modular to add open software chops

Qualcomm said it will acquire Modular in a move that gives it an AI-native software platform that will give it a more integrated portfolio.

The plan for Qualcomm is to combine Modular's software ecosystem with its chips and AI data center efforts. With Modular, Qualcomm will also have a chip agnostic compute layer that can work across devices, edge computing and data centers. Qualcomm is also using Modular to accelerate its AI data center plans.

Modular offers its own cloud as part of multiple deployment options and supports multiple open models.

Constellation Research analyst Holger Mueller said:

"This is a strategic move by Qualcomm to move beyond hardware and into infrastructure and even platform software. The deal positions Qualcomm to be a strategic open software layer that can handle AI workloads more efficiently across different compute architectures. Now it will be key that Modular will be able to keep running as a cross platform, compute optimization, despite being owned by one of the players who has a nascent inference offering in the market."

In addition, Qualcomm can boost its developer ecosystem with the addition of Modular.

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"We believe the future belongs to developer-friendly, horizontal platforms that can run across diverse compute environments and give customers real choice in how and where they deploy AI. With Modular, we’re accelerating that shift, combining our scale and energy-efficient data center technologies with an open ecosystem approach," said Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon.

Qualcomm, which is hosting its Investor Day in New York, outlined the following rationale for the Modular purchase:

• Modular will help Qualcomm deliver better performance-per-watt for AI inference.
• Qualcomm is looking to give developers a platform to optimize heterogeneous and disaggregated compute.
• Modular's platform works across CPU, GPU, NPU and custom chips without rewriting code.
• Modular is the software foundation for Qualcomm's data center strategy, which revolves around AI inference.