Cramer Says Qualcomm’s Amazon Collaboration Gives Stalled Stock “Something Special” to Point At
Jim Cramer called Qualcomm's latest partnership deal "something special" for a stock that has been treading water, but whether Wall Street agrees depends on a series of execution checkpoints that begin this December.
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Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM | QCOM Price Prediction) unveiled a multi-generational product collaboration with Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) to build next-generation AI data center infrastructure, and the market treated it as validation of a data center pivot investors had been asked to trust on faith.
On a CNBC segment that aired September 8, 2026, a colleague turned to Jim Cramer and framed the news: “Jim, this Qualcomm news with Amazon building multi-generation collaboration customized silicon.” Cramer answered directly: “I know that Qualcomm stock has been treading water and suddenly they’ve got something special.”
Shares of Qualcomm closed at $174.09 in Tuesday’s regular session, up 3.17% on the day and up 5.06% over the past week. Amazon is receiving warrants to acquire roughly $4 billion of Qualcomm stock as part of the deal.
What the Deal Actually Is
Qualcomm is designing custom silicon for Amazon Web Services to run inside AWS AI data centers. The word doing the heaviest lifting in the release is “multi-generational,” because it implies more than one design cycle of committed collaboration.
That matters because hyperscaler engagements only compound if the customer keeps coming back. On the July earnings call, CEO Cristiano Amon described Qualcomm’s initial custom silicon wins as “the first phase of strategic multi-year customer relationships that we expect to expand over time.”
CFO Akash Palkhiwala added that “we have two custom chip engagements, and both of these are global scale hyperscalers,” with revenue starting in the December quarter. Amazon is now publicly confirmed as one of them.
Qualcomm’s own guidance puts data center revenue at $5 billion in fiscal 2027 and $15 billion in fiscal 2029, part of a broader plan for total non-handset revenues to reach $40 billion by fiscal 2029.
Why This Lands Differently for Qualcomm
Qualcomm’s core problem has been handset concentration in a shrinking premium market. Q3 FY26 handset revenue was $5.09 billion, down 20% year over year.
Total revenue for the quarter came in at $9.95 billion, down 4.0%, with non-GAAP EPS of $2.21 snapping a six-quarter beat streak. Automotive was the only real bright spot at $1.59 billion, up 61%.
Against that backdrop, an AWS design win reframes the equity. Amon told analysts non-handset year-over-year growth should accelerate from 24% in fiscal 2026 to greater than 60% in fiscal 2027, and the Amazon deal is exactly the kind of anchor that gets that number to land.
Competitive Set: Marvell and Broadcom
Cramer’s second useful point during the segment was about competitive churn. He said, “A lot of these companies are really in competition now. They trade positions every single day.”
The incumbent custom silicon partner to hyperscalers is Marvell Technology (NASDAQ:MRVL), whose Q2 FY27 data center revenue was $2.17 billion, up 46% and now 79% of total revenue. Marvell disclosed its own expanded warrant agreement with Google, and CEO Matt Murphy told analysts the covered programs point toward “a $10 billion kind of plus number for custom in fiscal 29.”
Marvell shares are up 242.26% over the past year, which is the re-rating Qualcomm holders have been waiting for. The AWS deal is meant to start closing that gap.
Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) pursues a similar model with different hyperscalers. Whether Qualcomm can carve a durable third seat at that table depends less on this announcement, and more on whether high-bandwidth compute silicon performs when it tapes out in mid-2027.
What Has to Happen for This to Show Up in Results
The first checkpoint is the December quarter, when Qualcomm has said custom silicon revenue begins. Palkhiwala flagged that early data center revenue will be “a drag of one and a half to 2% on the weighted average gross margin for QCT”, so a clean ramp with visible orders matters more than reported margin next quarter.
The second is silicon demonstration of high-bandwidth compute Gen 1, which Amon said Qualcomm is “going to be able to do silicon demonstration evaluation” in coming quarters. That is the gate for a second and third hyperscaler engagement.
The thesis fails if Amazon’s warrant vests slowly, if handset weakness deepens beyond the current run rate, or if the $5 billion fiscal 2027 data center target slips. A slip would tell you the ramp is real but slower than the guidance the stock is now being asked to price in.
Watch Automotive as a tell. Twenty-three consecutive quarters of double-digit growth is proof Qualcomm can execute a diversification story when the customer base allows it.
Is QCOM’s Setup Attractive?
Qualcomm now has what its story has been missing: a named hyperscaler with skin in the game through a $4 billion warrant, a multi-generation commitment, and a credible path from roughly zero data center revenue to $15 billion by fiscal 2029. At 34 times earnings with a 2.05% dividend yield, you are not paying a hypergrowth multiple for a hypergrowth outcome that is starting to materialize.
Marvell’s year has already shown what the market will pay when hyperscaler custom silicon flows through the P&L. Qualcomm is earlier in that arc, which is both the risk and the opportunity.
The setup is a company trading like a legacy handset supplier while quietly turning into a data center supplier with signed hyperscaler contracts, and Tuesday’s announcement moves that transition from promise to schedule. The same AI buildout is also pulling in power, cooling, and networking suppliers that most investors overlook, which we covered in a free report on seven AI infrastructure stocks that aren’t chipmakers. Whether the repricing takes hold depends on execution against the fiscal 2027 data center target and a clean December-quarter ramp.
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Omor Ibne Ehsan is a writer at 24/7 Wall St. He is a self-taught investor with a focus on growth and cyclical stocks that have strong fundamentals, value, and long-term potential. He also has an interest in high-risk, high-reward investments such as cryptocurrencies and penny stocks.
