Qualcomm will acquire Modular to build an open AI software ecosystem

Qualcomm announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Modular to strengthen its generative AI and agent-based AI software foundation for data centers and edge environments. The transaction is expected to be completed in the second half of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

Qualcomm stated that Modular provides an open AI-native software stack that enables AI to run efficiently across different hardware architectures. Its unified platform supports CPU, GPU, NPU, and custom ASIC architectures without the need to rewrite models for each type of accelerator. For developers and enterprises, this means they can build once and deploy in different environments while reducing overall ownership costs.

Qualcomm noted that as AI scales, efficiency rather than capability is becoming the limiting factor. Performance per watt will impact inference costs, and costs determine whether AI can scale. This acquisition will further help Qualcomm provide a chip-agnostic computing layer between devices, edge, and data centers, improving performance per watt, increasing hardware flexibility, and expanding the open developer ecosystem.