Daiwa upgrades QUALCOMM to Outperform, lifts target to $225 on AI data centre potential

Daiwa Securities analyst Louis Miscioscia upgraded QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) from Neutral to Outperform on 8 May 2026, raising the firm’s price target to $225 from $140. The decision follows the release of QUALCOMM’s fiscal second-quarter results, which presented a mixed picture of strong growth in Automotive and IoT sectors offset by softer handset performance and weaker third-quarter guidance.

Daiwa highlighted that investor attention is increasingly shifting toward QUALCOMM’s emerging data centre AI CPU opportunity. The analyst noted that this segment could allow the company to benefit from broader Arm-based AI inference trends while trading at a relatively low valuation compared to other semiconductor peers.

The upgrade coincided with positive sentiment from other institutions. On the same day, Tigress Financial raised its price target for QUALCOMM to $280 from $270, maintaining a Buy rating. Tigress stated that QUALCOMM is becoming an increasingly attractive investment as it expands beyond wireless technologies into AI-driven connectivity across devices, vehicles, and data centres.

Earlier in May, Baird had already raised its price target to $300 from $177, maintaining an Outperform rating following the company’s fiscal first-quarter results. This sequence of upgrades underscores a growing consensus among analysts regarding the semiconductor company’s strategic pivot.

QUALCOMM reported fiscal second-quarter earnings per share of $2.65, beating the consensus estimate of $2.56. Revenue totalled $10.60 billion, slightly above the consensus expectation of $10.58 billion. The company stated that results were in line with guidance and reflected solid execution despite a challenging memory environment.

The company also noted that the rise of AI agents is reshaping its product roadmap across platforms. QUALCOMM confirmed that a custom silicon engagement with a leading hyperscaler in the data centre market remains on track for initial shipments later in 2026.

Further details on the data centre and Physical AI initiatives are expected during the company’s investor day on 24 June 2026. QUALCOMM continues to develop and commercialize foundational wireless technologies globally, while increasingly positioning itself within the broader AI infrastructure market.