Qualcomm, Corning Strike Big Deals as AI Infrastructure Stocks Surge

Qualcomm to Supply $60 Billion of Server Chips

Corning Signs Major Fiber-Optic Deal

AMD Sees $3 Trillion Market by 2030

Investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence data centers is spreading beyond semiconductors to servers, optical communications and the broader infrastructure buildout. Shares of related companies rallied after Amazon and Qualcomm, and Verizon and Corning, unveiled a string of large contracts.

On September 8, Intel rose 9.05% in New York trading, Hewlett Packard Enterprise climbed 7.75%, optical technology company Coherent gained 7.10%, and AMD added 5.90%. All stand to benefit from rising investment in AI infrastructure.

A series of recent AI infrastructure deals has added to the optimism. Qualcomm said on September 8 that it had signed an agreement to sell as much as $60 billion of server semiconductors and related technology to Amazon Web Services. It also issued warrants that would allow the purchase of as much as $4 billion of Qualcomm stock. Qualcomm, long reliant on smartphone chips, has been moving quickly into AI data centers. The company is also in talks with other data-center customers besides Amazon. Chief Financial Officer Akash Palkhiwala said revenue from chips supplied to Amazon will begin to be recognized in the fourth quarter. Qualcomm is targeting $15 billion in data-center revenue in fiscal 2029.

Fiber optics are also emerging as a new AI beneficiary. The technology is essential infrastructure for transmitting massive amounts of data quickly within and between data centers. Corning, the glass and fiber-optics maker, said it had signed a multibillion-dollar contract with Verizon to supply fiber-optic cable for AI network buildouts. The agreement covers 80 million miles, or 128,747,520 kilometers. Corning also signed a multibillion-dollar deal with Amazon in June. In May, Nvidia agreed to invest as much as $3.2 billion in Corning to build three fiber-optic manufacturing facilities in North Carolina and Texas.

The AI infrastructure market may also be expanding faster than expected. AMD Chief Financial Officer Jean Hu said the total addressable market for AI infrastructure could reach $3 trillion by 2030. That goes a step further than Chief Executive Officer Lisa Su's July forecast that the semiconductor industry would grow to $2 trillion by 2028.

Still, local opposition to the spread of data centers remains a variable. The rapid increase in facilities that consume vast amounts of electricity and water is fueling tension with communities. In a Gallup survey in May, 71% of Americans said they opposed the construction of a data center in their area. CNBC reported that AI company Anthropic also plans to cite negative public sentiment toward AI and data centers as a risk factor in its initial public offering prospectus.

Lee Hye-in, Hankyung.com reporter hey@hankyung.com