QUALCOMM MAKES ITS MOVE: TALKS TO BUY AI CHIP STARTUP TENSTORRENT FOR UP TO TEN BILLION DOLLARS Qualcomm is in negotiations to acquire Tenstorrent, the AI chip startup founded by legendary chip designer Jim Keller, at a valuation between eight and ten billion dollars. This deal, if it closes, would represent Qualcomm’s most serious attempt yet to punch into the AI data center chip market currently owned by Nvidia. Tenstorrent was founded in 2016 and has built its business around efficient AI processors using the open RISC-V instruction set standard, which is significant because it means chips that do not depend on any proprietary architecture that can be taxed or restricted. The company’s Galaxy Blackhole AI compute platform reached general availability in April 2026 and has independently verified performance numbers that have impressed the market. Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon has made no secret of the company’s ambitions in the data center and AI hardware space. Tenstorrent gives them a shipping product, a team that includes some of the most respected chip engineers in the world, and a RISC-V architecture that avoids the patent complications of ARM or x86. No deal has been finalized and talks could still fall apart. But the direction is clear. Every major technology company is trying to find a way around Nvidia’s stranglehold on AI compute. Qualcomm, with Tenstorrent, has found one of the more credible routes to get there. Keywords: Qualcomm Tenstorrent acquisition, Jim Keller AI chips, RISC-V AI processor, Qualcomm Nvidia competitor