Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) shares began Wednesday positive, after the tech giant launched a new PC processor on Wednesday as it looks to capitalize on electronics makers’ desire to put artificial intelligence on their devices.
The move ramps up Qualcomm’s efforts to challenge the dominance of Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) in the PC processor market at a time when the latter is facing mounting challenges.
Qualcomm took the wraps off the Snapdragon X Plus 8-core at the IFA conference in Berlin. The processor, designed for PCs running Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows operating system, promises to power AI processes with a long battery life.
The latest chips expand Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Series for PCs, which it launched last year.
The U.S. chip giant said the Snapdragon X Plus 8-core is designed for PCs costing as low as $700 as it looks to expand its semiconductors to more devices.
Qualcomm has traditionally designed chips that are used in the smartphones of many of the world’s biggest players, including Samsung. But the company stepped up its PC efforts this year when Microsoft announced a Surface Laptop and a Surface Pro tablet with Qualcomm’s X Series chips that can run some AI tasks without an internet connection. Microsoft calls these Copilot+ PCs.
QCOM shares gained $1.17 to $164.41.
