Analyst reports that OpenAI is partnering with Qualcomm for custom processors for an AI smartphone chip
Qualcomm, the worst-performing member of the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index this year which finally got its day in the spotlight on Friday, is basking in the sunshine once again. The San Diego-based firm is up 12% in early trading on Monday after an analyst said that the smartphone chip maker is partnering with OpenAI to build new custom processors for smartphones.
Per an X post from TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo late last night, OpenAI is working with Qualcomm, as well as MediaTek and Luxshare, to develop an AI agent phone, with plans for mass production to start in 2028.
Per Kuo, processors for the AI phone, which Qualcomm and MediaTek will partner to codevelop, will prioritize “power consumption, memory hierarchy management, and basic small-model execution,” in an effort to continuously understand the user’s context, while more complex or compute-intensive tasks will be handled by cloud AI. Specifications and suppliers for the processors are expected to be finalized by late 2026 or Q1 of 2027.
The reported partnership continues OpenAI’s ambitions to get into agentic AI hardware, after it announced in July 2025 that it’s building an AI device with Broadcom under the watch of Jony Ives, the former chief design officer at Apple.