Qualcomm Faces a Defining Moment on June 24 as Data Center Ambitions and AI-PC Dominance Converge

Qualcomm’s stock has clawed back nearly all the ground lost in a brutal June selloff, but the real test arrives next week. All eyes are on the company’s investor day on June 24, where management is expected to lay out a detailed roadmap for its expansion beyond smartphones—particularly in data centers, robotics, and next-generation connectivity.

The shares rallied more than 4% on Monday, pushing them to around $215, as a wave of bullish analyst notes swept through the semiconductor sector. Citigroup and Bank of America raised their outlooks on rival Advanced Micro Devices following a major deal with Meta, and the positive sentiment lifted the entire chip ecosystem. For Qualcomm, the bounce marks a sharp reversal from June 10, when the stock had tumbled roughly 6% in a single session. At its worst point earlier this month, the equity had shed 26% from its year-to-date high, pressured by Nvidia’s entry into the Windows-on-Arm market with its RTX Spark and regulatory uncertainty surrounding a reported AI chip deal with ByteDance.

AI-PC advantage gives near-term tailwind

One area where Qualcomm holds a clear edge is the nascent market for AI-powered personal computers. The company’s Snapdragon X2 platform, featured in new devices such as the HP EliteBook X G2 series, delivers up to 85 trillion operations per second (TOPS). That blows past the closest competitors: Intel’s chips top out at 50 TOPS, while AMD’s reach 55 TOPS. The technological lead has not gone unnoticed by institutional investors. Landscape Capital Management quadrupled its stake in Qualcomm during the past quarter, betting on the PC upgrade cycle driven by on-device AI.

CEO Cristiano Amon has framed this as part of a broader shift toward “agentic AI”—autonomous software agents that require local processing power rather than relying solely on cloud servers. Qualcomm’s ability to supply that capability across laptops, phones, and embedded devices is central to its long-term narrative.

Data center push becomes the big bet

But the most transformative piece of the strategy is the foray into cloud data centers. Under the brand “Dragonfly,” Qualcomm plans to field custom chips (ASICs), standard CPUs, and dedicated AI accelerators. The company has already pulled forward first shipments of its ASIC products, originally slated for fiscal 2027, to calendar 2026, Amon confirmed in May.

Analysts are scrambling to model the revenue potential. JPMorgan’s Samik Chatterjee raised his price target sharply from $160 to $265, incorporating roughly $3 billion in data center revenue for fiscal 2027 and up to $35 billion by 2031. He applies a 23-times multiple to his calendar 2027 earnings per share estimate of $11.50. Chatterjee expects Qualcomm to use the investor day to present a “broader diversification story” anchored by data centers, automotive, and the Internet of Things.

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Qualcomm?

Wells Fargo also lifted its target from $160 to $230, citing the AI100 Ultra chip now available via Amazon Web Services. The bank notes that the chip delivers competitive revenue per GPU-hour versus other cloud AI offerings, though it holds an Equal-Weight rating. Daiwa Capital upgraded the stock to Outperform with a $225 target, and Tigress Financial reiterated its Buy recommendation with a $280 objective. Not everyone is convinced: Bank of America Securities maintains an Underperform rating, arguing that Qualcomm’s non-smartphone businesses will take time to offset persistent headwinds.

The Apple revenue gap still weighs

Those headwinds are considerable. Qualcomm’s share of the next-generation iPhone modem supply stands at roughly 20%, with no expectation of a renewed partnership with Apple. UBS estimates that revenue hole is worth $4 billion to $5 billion annually. Automotive and IoT units are expanding, but not fast enough to fill the void on their own.

That is precisely why the June 24 event carries so much weight. Amon and his team must present concrete revenue targets for the data center business—not just aspirational statements—to convince investors that Qualcomm can close the Apple gap within a few years. Chatterjee’s model implies that total revenue outside smartphones could reach $69 billion by 2031, which would require compound annual growth of more than 40%.

Chart and catalysts

Technically, the stock has reclaimed its medium-term moving averages and is trading well above the June lows. The relative strength index sits at a neutral level, suggesting there is room to run before becoming overbought. The May record high of $222.90 (in euro terms) now looks within striking distance, and the investor day could provide the catalyst to take it out.

Whether Qualcomm can sustain that momentum depends on the numbers it delivers next week—and on whether the market buys the transformation from a mobile-chip powerhouse into a full-blown data center player.