Qualcomm shares rise as analysts lift price targets amid data‑center and AI expansion

Analysts have markedly increased their price targets for Qualcomm following the company's announced push into data‑center and artificial‑intelligence markets. Benchmark sees a fair value of $300, DZ Bank raised its target to $265, Barclays to $245 and other banks average a target around $219. Bernstein, in a separate note, lifted its target from $140 to $235 while maintaining a "market perform" rating.

Despite the upbeat forecasts, the stock fell 7.6% to $189.39 on the NASDAQ and is down more than 16% on a month‑to‑date basis, trading at €164.74. Qualcomm plans to generate over $15 billion in revenue from its data‑center business by FY2029, leveraging its new "Dragonfly" chip architecture that shortens memory‑to‑processor distances. The firm also expects roughly $10 billion from automotive chips by the same horizon.

The market reaction reflects investors weighing the company’s diversification away from its traditional smartphone chip dominance against the risks of entering highly competitive AI and data‑center sectors.