California [US], June 24 (ANI): US tech major Qualcomm is acquiring AI software firm Modular as it expands its presence across the generative and agentic AI ecosystem.

The semiconductor player said that it will be an all-stock deal, and the company expects to issue up to 19.2 million shares of its common stock to the equity owners of Modular. At Qualcomm's closing price on Tuesday, the deal value comes around USD3.9 billion.

By acquiring Modular, Qualcomm has gained a toehold in a strategically important AI segment that is dominated by the likes of Nvidia's CUDA. The AI software CUDA lets developers harness Nvidia's massive GPU power.

Modular provides an AI-native software stack that enables AI to run efficiently across the hardware architecture.

The acquisition is expected to strengthen the software foundation for Qualcomm's data centre strategy, supporting more efficient inference, orchestration, and deployment in distributed AI systems.

'This acquisition marks a pivotal moment not just for Qualcomm, but for the AI industry,' said Cristiano Amon, President and CEO, Qualcomm.

'We believe the future belongs to developer-friendly, horizontal platforms that can run across diverse compute environments and give customers real choice in how and where they deploy AI. With Modular, we're accelerating that shift, combining our scale and energy-efficient data center technologies with an open ecosystem approach to help drive the next chapter of AI,' the Qualcomm CEO added.

The deal comes at a time when top tech players are accelerating their AI spending across different layers of the AI stack. Hyperscalers like Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft are spending hundreds of billions of dollars in strengthening the compute infrastructure.

Shares of Qualcomm were trading at USD198.24, nearly 3 per cent down on Nasdaq.

The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions and applicable regulatory approvals. (ANI)