Qualcomm stock surged as much as 12% on Friday after the chip company announced a major expansion of its existing partnership with automaker Stellantis.
The deal covers Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Digital Chassis system-on-chips across cockpit, connectivity, and advanced driver assistance systems for Stellantis’s entire next-generation vehicle portfolio.
The move sent QCOM up roughly 12% on the day, building on an already strong 40.68% year-to-date gain and a 46.79% rise over the past 12 months.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Ride Pilot ADAS platform is also part of the agreement. It is designed to scale from active safety features all the way up to Level 2+ hands-free autonomy across millions of Stellantis vehicles.
Perhaps the most eye-catching part of the deal is the plan for aiMotive — Stellantis’s automated driving and simulation company — to join Qualcomm Technologies. That move is expected to deepen joint capabilities and likely enhance Qualcomm’s existing SoC product line.
Qualcomm’s automotive segment is not a side project. Annual revenues from the division already exceed $5 billion, and Friday’s deal is a direct signal of where the company sees its growth runway.
Nakul Duggal, EVP and Group General Manager of Automotive, Industrial and Embedded IoT at Qualcomm, called the expanded deal “a meaningful inflection point for both companies.”
On the analyst side, Melius Research lifted its price target on QCOM to $220 from $170. The firm held its Hold rating, but the target revision reflects a more optimistic view on valuation.
Wall Street’s broader consensus on QCOM sits at Hold — nine Buy ratings, 19 Holds, and four Sells over the past three months. The average price target stands at $178.81, which would actually represent a roughly 25% downside from current levels.
Trading volume on Friday came in at around 16.5 million shares, below the three-month daily average of 23.44 million — so the move was more conviction-driven than volume-driven.
There was more going on in the background. Reports surfaced that AI chip startup Tenstorrent is drawing early takeover interest from prospective buyers, with both Intel and Qualcomm named among those circling.
Counterpoint Research also published data showing that agentic AI-capable smartphone chips hit 4% market penetration by the end of 2025. That figure could climb to 32% by 2027, meaning roughly one in three smartphones sold by then may support agentic AI features.
Qualcomm has been quietly shifting its narrative away from handset dependency. Data center and Physical AI engagements with hyperscalers are expected to ship later in 2026.
The company’s upcoming Investor Day is expected to be a key event for laying out that strategy in more detail.
The broader market provided a tailwind too — the S&P 500 added 0.6%, the Dow gained 0.8%, and the Nasdaq rose 0.4% during the session.
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