Durga Malladi, EVP and GM (Technology Planning, Edge Solutions and Data Centre), Qualcomm Technologies

For true democratisation of AI and sustainability, you have to take AI to where data originates, says a senior executive at fabless chip design giant Qualcomm Technologies.

“As data centres (DCs) roll out at large scale, the question to ask is, ‘Does it make sense to actually do all the processing in the DC or should we distribute the workload across the entire network?’” says Durga Malladi, EVP and GM (Technology Planning, Edge Solutions and Data Centre), Qualcomm Technologies. This narrative increasingly resonates with policymakers and enterprises, he adds.

“With AI agents coming in, you don’t have to pick up your phone and do things. The idea is to simply use voice and you have an agent that breaks down any complicated task, run and tap into applications behind the scenes,” Malladi explains.

Qualcomm supports smartphones, PCs, automotive electronics and new-age tech, such as Meta’s Ray Ban glasses, with Edge AI.

At the recent AI summit in New Delhi, the tech major announced that it is working closely with India’s sovereign AI startup Sarvam, whose models run on Qualcomm Snapdragon platforms.

Demand for memory

However, alongside the bullishness on Edge AI, Qualcomm has resumed making silicon for DCs, challenging Nvidia’s domination in this segment.

Its newly launched AI chips for DCs — AI200 and AI250 — are designed for improved memory capacity and running AI inference. “We have a deployment coming up in Saudi Arabia. We have also received tons of interest from local [Indian] DC players,” Malladi says.

Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon had, in a recent earnings call, flagged an existing memory shortage, adding the company anticipates an early resolution. Malladi says a single DC rack has about 40 terabytes memory, so the requirement for the planned capacity rollouts dwarfs the original estimate.

Qualcomm also announced it is partnering with Tata Electronics to manufacture Qualcomm automotive modules at the latter’s upcoming semiconductor assembly and test facility in Jagiroad, Assam. The modules can support digital cockpits, infotainment, connectivity and intelligent vehicle systems.

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Published on February 23, 2026