Qualcomm in talks to buy Tenstorrent in up to $10B AI chip push

Qualcomm is in active discussions to acquire Canadian AI chip startup Tenstorrent in a deal valued between $8 billion and $10 billion, according to multiple reports citing The Information’s initial scoop. The talks focus on a cash transaction that would rank among Qualcomm’s biggest deals to date and imply a sharp premium to Tenstorrent’s prior private valuation. The discussions remain ongoing, and there is no binding agreement yet, with both sides declining public comment and sources cautioning that the price could change or negotiations could still fall apart.

The proposed acquisition would give Qualcomm control of Tenstorrent’s RISC‑V–based AI accelerators and data center CPU IP, expanding Qualcomm’s reach beyond its core mobile chip franchise into data center and infrastructure AI workloads. Reports indicate the indicative deal value is structured in a range of $8–10 billion, with uncertainty over how much of that figure would be contingent on performance‑related milestone payments, a mechanism Qualcomm and others have used in prior chip deals. The potential transaction follows Tenstorrent’s earlier effort to raise capital at around a $3.2 billion valuation, underscoring how strategic interest from Qualcomm and rival suitors has rapidly lifted the startup’s implied price.

For Tenstorrent, an acquisition by Qualcomm would provide deep financial resources, a broad customer footprint, and a path to scale its RISC‑V accelerators and platforms, such as its recently launched Galaxy Blackhole system, into mainstream AI infrastructure deployments. Industry analysts note that at up to $10 billion, the deal would be among the largest reported acquisitions of an AI hardware startup and a notable endorsement of open‑instruction‑set architectures in high‑performance AI computing. However, until terms are finalized and regulators review any definitive agreement, the exact purchase price, the mix of upfront versus milestone consideration, and integration plans for Tenstorrent’s technology portfolio remain open questions.