Qualcomm Jumps 14% on Modular Deal as AI Founders Chase World Models

Qualcomm shares jumped 14 percent in after-hours trading after the chipmaker unveiled an expanded AI roadmap, SiliconANGLE reported, including plans to acquire inference-software startup Modular with 19.2 million shares worth about $3.92 billion and to launch two new data center chips, the Dragonfly C1000 and Dragonfly AI300. Qualcomm also raised its fiscal 2029 guidance, saying it expects non-handset revenue, which includes its data center business, to reach $40 billion.

A growing number of AI entrepreneurs are pivoting from chatbots to "world models" that teach systems and robots how to act in physical space, the Boston Globe reported, drawing in prominent figures such as Fei-Fei Li, whose startup World Labs frames the concept as learning the statistical structure of space and time, and Yann LeCun, who left Meta to pursue the approach. The story profiles researcher Louis Castricato, who quit his Brown University doctorate to found a company called Overworld after concluding that core large language model research had given way to applications.

WebProNews reported that Hewlett Packard Enterprise launched private AI solutions for on-premises large language model training and deployment, targeting organizations that want to keep AI workloads inside their own infrastructure.

In an opinion piece for GMA News, US Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg argued that the push for "digital sovereignty," in which every nation builds its own AI stack at home, is a costly trap that duplicates existing capabilities rather than creating new value.

Sources:

• Siliconangle
• The Boston Globe
• Webpronews
• Gma News Online