What Happened?
Shares of wireless chipmaker Qualcomm NASDAQ:QCOM fell 4.5% in the afternoon session after Elon Musk denied reports that SpaceX was developing an AI device using the company's Snapdragon chip, and after its removal from several Russell indexes.
Initial reports of a partnership had fueled optimism about new growth for Qualcomm's technology. However, the public denial from SpaceX's CEO reversed that sentiment.
Adding to the pressure, the company's removal from the indexes likely prompted automatic selling by passive funds that track these benchmarks. The decline also coincided with a broader sell-off in the technology sector, as investors took profits in chipmaker and AI-related stocks amid concerns that valuations had become too high.
After the initial drop, the shares shed some of the losses and rose to $175.60, down 3.4% from the previous close.
What Is The Market Telling Us
Qualcomm’s shares are very volatile and have had 22 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 7 days ago when the stock gained 4.3% on the news that the company announced an aggressive expansion into the AI data center market with ambitious long-term revenue targets during its 2026 Investor Day.
The chipmaker unveiled a strategy targeting over $15 billion in revenue from data center AI by fiscal 2029. Overall, Qualcomm now expects $40 billion in non-handset revenue by the same year, nearly double its prior projection.
As part of this expansion, the company announced its new Dragonfly C1000 data center CPU and revealed a strategic, multi-generation supply agreement with Meta Platforms, which will be the first major customer for the new chip. This move reinforces investor optimism over Qualcomm's push to diversify beyond its traditional smartphone business.
Qualcomm is up 1.5% since the beginning of the year, but at $175.60 per share, it is still trading 30% below its 52-week high of $251.02 from May 2026. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Qualcomm’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,231.
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