On September 8, 2026, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Qualcomm announced a strategic partnership to jointly develop custom silicon chips for artificial intelligence inference and 1.6 Tbps optical network equipment. The collaboration aims to utilize Qualcomm’s technology to move part of the computing workload to memory chips to increase bandwidth. The AI250 series of platforms are expected to be launched next year. This partnership includes combinations of custom silicon, chip modules, or data center accelerators. Qualcomm will provide Serializer-deserializers (SerDes) and optical digital signal processors (DSPs) to help AWS increase port speed to 1.6 Tbps, possibly involving optical pluggable components or near-copper/copper-enclosed optical supplies. In return, Qualcomm plans to use AWS Bedrock platform for electronic design automation workloads to shorten the chip design cycle. According to SEC documents, the total commercial commitment between the two parties could reach $60 billion, with payment scheduled until September 2036.