---
title: "Qualcomm gave Amazon warrants worth $4 billion, vesting on up to $60 billion of chip purchases"
description: "Bloomberg reported Amazon signed as a customer for Qualcomm's AI chips, and the SEC filings show Amazon also holds warrants over 25 million Qualcomm shares at $161.26, about $4 billion of face value, vesting against up to $60 billion of purchases. With AWS paying $5 billion upfront for Nvidia racks it cannot power up, the deal is either leverage against Nvidia or demand Qualcomm paid for with its own equity, and Amazon's October 29 print will show which."
publisher: "The Inference"
section: "Deals"
published: 2026-10-24T13:22:02.216Z
modified: 2026-10-24T13:22:02.216Z
canonical: https://theinference.org/article/qualcomm-gave-amazon-warrants-worth-4-billion-vesting-on-up-to-60-billion-of-chip-purchases
language: en
keywords: "Qualcomm, Amazon, Nvidia, AI Chips, Warrants, Data Centers"
---

# Qualcomm gave Amazon warrants worth $4 billion, vesting on up to $60 billion of chip purchases

> Bloomberg reported Amazon signed as a customer for Qualcomm's AI chips, and the SEC filings show Amazon also holds warrants over 25 million Qualcomm shares at $161.26, about $4 billion of face value, vesting against up to $60 billion of purchases. With AWS paying $5 billion upfront for Nvidia racks it cannot power up, the deal is either leverage against Nvidia or demand Qualcomm paid for with its own equity, and Amazon's October 29 print will show which.

Bloomberg reported this month that [Amazon](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/amazon) signed as a customer for [Qualcomm](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/qualcomm)'s AI chips, the handset chipmaker's first major Western hyperscaler for data-center silicon [2][9]. The term that decides what the deal means sits in [the September SEC filings](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000804328): Qualcomm granted Amazon warrants to buy up to 25 million shares at $161.26, a potential $4 billion position that vests only as Amazon purchases chips under a relationship sized at up to $60 billion over a decade [6][7].

## The customer Qualcomm paid for

The warrants are options, not free shares: Amazon would pay $4 billion to exercise them, and profits only if Qualcomm's stock holds above $161.26 [8][9]. An initial 3.75 million shares vested at signing; the remaining 21.25 million vest in tranches tied to purchases of up to $60 billion through September 2036 [8][10].

Qualcomm says the custom inference chips are already in production, with revenue expected in its fiscal first quarter 2027, the December quarter [10][11]. That is real alignment. It is also, structurally, Qualcomm [paying its largest new customer in its own equity](https://theinference.org/article/amazon-pays-its-suppliers-and-collects-in-their-shares) to show up, at the same time [Marvell handed Google warrants worth up to $12.2 billion on a similar deal](https://www.aol.com/articles/qualcomm-amazon-develop-custom-chips-131513000.html) [6].

## Why Amazon wanted a second supplier anyway

The pressure on Amazon's side is documented. [Internal emails reported by Business Insider](https://tech.yahoo.com/gaming/articles/gaming-gpu-shortage-might-happening-200000028.html) show AWS paying about $5 billion for [Nvidia](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/nvidia) GB300 racks upfront in August under a new "Early Rack Receipt" process, with roughly $3 billion more ordered every month [4]. Racks are idling in warehouses waiting for power, and one AWS team had no "clear forecasted path" to install them [4].

CEO [Andy Jassy](https://theinference.org/markets/people/andy-jassy) says AWS capacity is essentially sold out through 2027, with substantial 2028 pre-booked [5]. Trailing twelve-month free cash flow turned negative at $7.6 billion in the second quarter [5]. [As reported here on October 2 and 3](https://theinference.org/article/amazon-raises-gpu-rents-15-while-shifting-8-billion-of-chips-off-its-books), Amazon has already shifted $8 billion of Nvidia chips off its books [5]. A second merchant supplier is negotiating leverage against Nvidia's allocation machine, whatever the warrants cost.

*Chart: **Qualcomm's operating income fell 41% year over year last quarter as revenue slipped** Line chart of Qualcomm quarterly revenue and operating income from Q1 2024 through Q2 2026, showing revenue peaking in late 2025 while operating income falls faster.*

*Quarterly revenue and operating income in US$ billions, labelled by calendar quarter. Source: Qualcomm SEC filings, retrieved via company_series. [12]*

## The counterpoint: the core is shrinking while the pivot is paid in equity

[Meta](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/meta) and [Microsoft](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/microsoft) already back Qualcomm's data-center push, targeting $15 billion of data-center revenue by fiscal 2029 within a $40 billion non-handset goal [6][11]. [Yahoo Finance's read](https://ucapital.com/en/news/breaking/17627266) is that the stock still trades at a steep discount to the semiconductor sector, "as if the company were just a smartphone supplier" [3].

The complication runs the other way: revenue fell 4% year over year last quarter on a 20% drop in mobile handset processor sales, and QCT segment EBT margins slid from 30% to 26% [1][10]. The filings say the business that funds the pivot is eroding while the pivot's anchor customer was paid in shares [1][6].

## What the October 29 print decides

Amazon reports October 29, and Qualcomm reports November 4 [5][11]. The test is plain: rack receipts keep arriving at $3 billion a month into warehouses without power, which supports the vendor-financing read; installation schedules appear, which supports the demand-validation read [4][5]. The warrants vest only against purchases [8], so Qualcomm needs Amazon to spend toward the $60 billion. A customer you paid to arrive has not yet proven it will stay.

## Takeaway

Qualcomm's first big Western hyperscaler win came with $4 billion of stock warrants that vest only as Amazon spends toward $60 billion of chip purchases, so Amazon's October 29 report and Qualcomm's November 4 report test whether the demand is real or was paid for in equity.

## Sources

1. [TradingKey, Qualcomm Inc Stock (QCOM) Moved Up by 3.22% on Oct 15: Key Drivers Unveiled, 15 October 2026](https://www.tradingkey.com/news/market-movers/262219339-market-movers-qcom-20261015)
2. [Chip Dispatch, Qualcomm Lands Amazon as Customer for AI Chip Push, 12 October 2026](https://chipdispatch.com/articles/qualcomm-lands-amazon-as-a-customer-for-its-ai-chip-push-de24bd35)
3. [UCapital News, Qualcomm (QCOM) has Amazon as customer, but stock still priced like a phone company, October 2026](https://ucapital.com/en/news/breaking/17627266)
4. [Yahoo Tech (Future), The gaming GPU shortage might be happening for a reason that'll make plenty of gamers even angrier, citing Business Insider and Ed Zitron, October 2026](https://tech.yahoo.com/gaming/articles/gaming-gpu-shortage-might-happening-200000028.html)
5. [NAI500, AI Demand Drives Amazon's Cloud Business Growth, While Insufficient Power Supply Slows the Pace of Computing Capacity Deployment, October 2026](https://nai500.com/blog/2026/10/ai-demand-drives-amazons-cloud-business-growth-while-insufficient-power-supply-slows-the-pace-of-computing-capacity-deployment/)
6. [Reuters via AOL, Qualcomm strikes AI chip deal with Amazon, offers right to buy about $4 billion in stock, 8 September 2026](https://www.aol.com/articles/qualcomm-amazon-develop-custom-chips-131513000.html)
7. [The Next Web, Qualcomm hands Amazon $4B of warrants to build custom silicon for AWS, 8 September 2026](https://thenextweb.com/news/qualcomm-amazon-4bn-warrants)
8. [MarketBeat via The Globe and Mail, Qualcomm's Data Center Bet Looks More Real After Amazon's AI Deal, 9 September 2026](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/markets/stocks/MRVL/pressreleases/4544572/qualcomms-data-center-bet-looks-more-real-after-amazons-ai-deal/)
9. [Invezz via MSN, Qualcomm stock rises 3.9% as AWS deal boosts data center outlook, September 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/qualcomm-stock-rises-39-as-aws-deal-boosts-data-center-outlook/ar-AA2ciBFD)
10. [Insider Monkey, Qualcomm's AWS Deal Takes Aim at Nvidia, But Comes With Fine Print, 11 September 2026](https://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/qualcomms-aws-deal-takes-aim-at-nvidia-but-comes-with-fine-print-1835025/)
11. [The Motley Fool, Qualcomm's AI Infrastructure Pivot Is Underappreciated, 6 October 2026](https://www.fool.com/investing/2026/10/06/qualcomms-ai-infrastructure-pivot-is-underapprecia/)
12. [Qualcomm quarterly figures from SEC filings, retrieved via company_series, 24 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000804328)


---

Qualcomm gave Amazon warrants worth $4 billion, vesting on up to $60 billion of chip purchases — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/qualcomm-gave-amazon-warrants-worth-4-billion-vesting-on-up-to-60-billion-of-chip-purchases