The prospective acquisition values Alphawave Semi at around US$2.4 billion and will see the firm support Qualcomm’s expansion into the data centre space, once completed.
The deal is expected to be completed during the first calendar quarter of 2026.
Tony Pialis, president and CEO of Alphawave Semi, said: “By combining our resources and expertise, we will be well-positioned to expand our product offerings, reach a broader customer base, and enhance our technological capabilities.
“Together, we will unlock new opportunities for growth, drive innovation, and create a leading player in AI compute and connectivity solutions.”
Founded in 2017, Alphawave Semi is a fabless firm that licenses designs to its chips for use in data centres, 5G wireless infrastructure, and networking.
The company offers high-speed SerDes (serialiser/deserialiser) and PAM4 (Pulse Amplitude Modulation 4-level) technologies that enable faster data transmission between chips, improving bandwidth and power efficiency in high-performance computing and communications systems.
Alphawave Semi also develops coherent DSP (digital signal processor) products for advanced optical communications, which support the shift from copper to optical cabling in data centres while also enabling higher bandwidth and lower power consumption.
Qualcomm’s acquisition of the Canadian company comes amid a push into the lucrative data centre market, with Alphawave Semi’s technologies set to pair with its Oryon CPUs and Hexagon NPUs.
Qualcomm said demand for its hardware is being driven by customers wanting custom CPUs, an area Alphawave Semi has experience in, having developed custom silicon solutions and advanced chiplet technologies.
“Under Pialis’s leadership, Alphawave Semi has developed leading high-speed wired connectivity and compute technologies that are complementary to our power-efficient CPU and NPU cores.
“The combined teams share the goal of building advanced technology solutions and enabling next-level connected computing performance across a wide array of high-growth areas, including data centre infrastructure.”
Alphawave Semi marks Qualcomm’s third M&A deal so far in 2025. Earlier this month, Qualcomm Technologies completed its acquisition of direct vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication provider Autotalks.
Back in March, the chipmaker penned a deal to acquire Edge Impulse, an edge AI development platform to boost its presence in the IoT and AI markets.
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