Between Qualcomm (QCOM -1.97%) and Marvell Technology (MRVL -1.63%), which of these underdog companies has more upside in selling artificial intelligence (AI) chips? I think Qualcomm is the winner, as it's in the midst of transitioning from a smartphone supplier into a long‑term partner for the biggest cloud and social platforms on the planet, all while still making money from its original business.
Qualcomm spent most of its corporate life selling chips for phones. That is now only part of the story. In June, the company laid out a full data center roadmap built around its new Dragonfly platform, including a server CPU called Dragonfly C1000 and an AI accelerator called AI300, both meant to power future data centers at companies such as Meta Platforms (META +3.08%) and other large platforms. Meta has already signed a multi‑generation agreement with Qualcomm to supply CPUs for its next wave of servers, with production slated to start in the second half of 2028, marking a big shift from Qualcomm's past reliance on handset makers.
Image source: Getty Images.
The more important move, in my view, is the partnership with Amazon (AMZN -1.11%). Earlier this month, Qualcomm and Amazon announced a multi‑generation collaboration to co‑develop custom chips for Amazon Web Services data centers, focused on running AI services more cheaply and efficiently, as well as high‑speed optical links that connect those systems.
Qualcomm even issued warrants that allow an Amazon entity to buy up to 25 million shares over time, tied to as much as $60 billion in potential chip purchases, directly aligning Qualcomm's future with Amazon's AI build-out, according to CNBC reporting. For an underdog, that kind of anchored demand and shared incentive structure matters: it gives Qualcomm a clear path to years of orders.
What stands out to me is how consistent this pivot has become. Qualcomm is talking about a platform that spans from data centers to personal devices. The company describes data center components designed to reduce power use per unit of work, on‑device chips for laptops and phones that keep more AI processing local, and edge processors for robots and connected machines.
Add to this all of this the fact that Qualcomm has an entire business beyond AI and data centers, too. It doesn't make smartphones itself, but its Snapdragon chips power phones, while utilizing AI. Its newest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 chips will power the next wave of high-end Android devices, showing how Qualcomm has built a business that reaches far beyond one niche.
NASDAQ: QCOM
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What Marvell does
Marvell, to its credit, is already a major player in the plumbing of AI data centers. It sells connectivity chips, optical links, and custom silicon that help big cloud providers move information between machines and racks. At Citi's 2026 Global TMT Conference, management described a business where data center revenue has climbed from about $2.2 billion in 2023 to a projected $15 billion to $16 billion next year, and raised its combined revenue outlook for fiscal 2027 and 2028 to $30 billion, according to Investing.com.
Marvell has been showcasing new 2-nanometer optical technology and a broader connectivity portfolio designed to help AI data centers move data more efficiently. That's impressive, but, in my opinion, this stock has already had its run, and investors already know the AI story with Marvell. Much of their future growth is now tied to strong AI demand and the company continuing to win major customer designs. In short, I feel like this company is already hyped up and in too much of a niche.
NASDAQ: MRVL
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Which stock has more upside from here?
To me, Marvell looks like an already known infrastructure play, while Qualcomm is a semi-archaic "old phone chip" label that does not match what it is actually doing in 2026. Also, Marvell's stock price has already jumped nearly 250% in the last calendar year, so there may also be less room to run this cycle. If Qualcomm executes on its multi‑year deals with Meta and Amazon and continues to tie together data center, device, phone chip, and edge silicon, the gap will give it more room to surprise investors.
That is why I would put more long‑term upside on Qualcomm: it is still early enough in its AI reinvention that the market has not fully priced in the scale of the partnerships it has already signed.
