June 15 (Reuters) – Qualcomm is in talks to acquire AI chip startup Tenstorrent for $8 billion to $10 billion, The Information reported on Monday citing a person with knowledge of the deal.
Shares of Qualcomm fell about 1% in extended trading.
The talks were ongoing and the price could change, or the discussions could fall apart, according to the report. It was not clear if the price will include performance-based milestone payments, a structure used in the past to buy chip startups, the Information added.
Qualcomm and Tenstorrent did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. Reuters could not independently verify the report.
One of the world’s largest suppliers of smartphone chips, Qualcomm has increasingly sought to reduce its dependence on the cyclical handset market by expanding into high-growth segments such as data center processors and autonomous vehicle chips.
Founded in 2016, Tenstorrent is headed by Jim Keller, a former Apple chip designer who also oversaw Tesla’s efforts to design a chip for autonomous driving.
The startup develops accelerators for training AI models and running AI applications.
(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Joyjeet Das)
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