Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) shares closed more than 12 percent higher on Friday, May 22, finishing the session at $239.17 after touching an intraday high of $242.73, extending a month-long rally that has now pushed the stock up approximately 75 percent from its recent lows.
The primary catalyst was an expanded multi-year partnership with Stellantis, under which Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Digital Chassis platform will be integrated across the automaker’s entire vehicle lineup covering cockpit, connectivity, and advanced driver assistance systems.
Automotive revenue for Qualcomm reached a record $1.33 billion in the company’s most recent quarter, converting a long-promised diversification narrative into a number that now materially shifts the full-year financial picture.
CNBC reported the stock move “shows investors are waking up to the boom in AI devices,” noting the company “is using its dominance in smartphones to cement its role as a key player in connected devices, whether it’s eyeglasses, cars or robots.”
Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) has gained more than 37 percent year to date, with the market capitalisation now exceeding $255 billion, a figure that reflects a structural reassessment of what business the company actually operates in 2026.
CEO Cristiano Amon’s participation in President Trump’s trade delegation to China provided additional positive momentum, as China remains one of Qualcomm’s most strategically significant markets for both licensing revenues and chip shipments.
Plans to ship custom data centre AI processors before the end of 2026 introduce a third major growth vector alongside smartphones and automotive, targeting workloads where Qualcomm’s power-efficient chip architecture has a genuine competitive angle.
Tigress Financial raised its price target to $280 following the Stellantis announcement, while the broader analyst consensus has shifted from $170 to $220 over recent weeks as models are updated to reflect the new narrative.
The stock’s gross margin sits at 55 percent and EBIT margin approaches 30 percent, metrics that confirm durable pricing power across the intellectual property portfolio rather than a surge driven by any single product cycle.
Return on equity above 40 percent adds further evidence of the capital efficiency that tends to attract the kind of institutional money that sustains rather than chases a rally.
The main risk at current levels is the expectations bar. A stock up 75 percent in a month leaves almost no room for any guidance miss or delay in the automotive or data centre roadmap.
