Whether or not Qualcomm is on a run depends entirely on your time frame. QCOM's 2026 performance has been a rollercoaster rather than a straight-line rally. The stock bottomed near $122 in April, then surged to an all-time high of roughly $260 in May — a monster move off the lows — before sliding about 35% into late July as the market fretted about a slowdown in its core smartphone-chip business.
The more recent story is a genuine re-acceleration. After dipping to a post-earnings low near $148 in August, QCOM worked its way back to about $169 by Sept. 4 and jumped again on Sept. 8, trading near $176 on the Amazon news. So: over the past month, yes, Qualcomm is on the move again, and off its April low it has been spectacular. But the stock still sits roughly 30% below its May record, and the year has been defined by volatility, not steady momentum. The bull case is that the recent rally is the start of the next leg — not a dead-cat bounce.
Why Qualcomm Is Rallying: The AI Pivot
The catalyst reshaping Qualcomm's story is its move beyond smartphones, and on Sept. 8, 2026, that story got its biggest headline yet. Qualcomm announced a multi-generational collaboration with Amazon to supply custom silicon for Amazon Web Services' AI data centers, with the work centered on AI inference and extending to optical networking products. Qualcomm also issued Amazon a warrant covering about 25 million QCOM shares at an exercise price of $161.26 — roughly $4 billion if fully exercised over the next decade — and the stock rallied on the announcement.
That agreement builds on the engagement Qualcomm first disclosed earlier in the year. On its Q2 fiscal 2026 earnings call in April, Qualcomm revealed its first hyperscaler data center deal— and the stock jumped 15%. For a company long viewed as a mobile-chip pure play tied to the maturing smartphone cycle, breaking into the AI data center market is a potentially transformative diversification of its revenue.
Several other growth engines are firing at once. Qualcomm's IoT segment — which spans AI PCs, smart glasses, and industrial devices — brought in $1.7 billion in the April quarter, up 9% year over year, and automotive has been the standout, growing 61% in the June quarter. A reported partnership with OpenAI and MediaTek to develop smartphone processing chips (with mass production targeted for 2028) also sent shares up double digits earlier in the year. The financials show why the debate persists, though: Q2 fiscal 2026 revenue of $10.6 billion and non-GAAP EPS of $2.65 beat estimates, but the most recent quarter — Q3 fiscal 2026, reported July 29 — delivered revenue of $9.9 billion, down 4% year over year, and non-GAAP EPS of $2.21, which missed Wall Street's forecast.
The Bear Case: The Handset Trough
Not everyone is convinced. Qualcomm's largest revenue source remains smartphone chips, and that market is mature and cyclical. Bears point to a "handset trough" and the long-running risk that Apple — a major customer — designs Qualcomm out of its devices with in-house modems. The bull rebuttal is that the handset weakness will be short-lived and that auto, IoT, and hyperscaler revenue represent a multi-year ramp that re-rates the stock higher. With QCOM trading around 17x forward earnings and the average analyst price target sitting in the $190s to low $200s — roughly 10% to 15% above recent levels — the debate is really about whether the AI and diversification story is real or a mirage.
The Top ETFs That Hold Qualcomm
Most investors who own Qualcomm don't hold it directly — they own it inside semiconductor and technology ETFs. Here are the funds with the most meaningful QCOM exposure; weights are from ETF.com fund data as of Sept. 3, 2026.
FTXL — First Trust Nasdaq Semiconductor ETF (Highest QCOM Weight)
FTXL gives investors the heaviest Qualcomm exposure of any major ETF. QCOM makes up roughly 6.43%of the fund — its sixth-largest holding, behind Micron (~13.4%), Intel (~11.4%), Marvell (~7.4%), Nvidia (~7.1%) and AMD (~6.5%). FTXL uses a multi-factor methodology that ranks liquid chip stocks on value, volatility and growth, capping the five highest-ranked names at 8% and the rest at 4%, which pulls weight away from the mega-caps and toward names like Qualcomm. If you want QCOM to actually move the needle in your semiconductor fund, FTXL — 35 holdings and about $1.2 billion in assets — is the most concentrated option.
SOXX — iShares Semiconductor ETF
SOXX holds Qualcomm at roughly 2.98%, making it about the 16th-largest position in the fund. SOXX holds 31 chip names with a modified market-cap weighting that caps individual holdings to reduce single-name risk, so QCOM sits well below leaders such as Nvidia (~9.7%), Micron (~8.3%), AMD (~8.2%) and Broadcom (~7.1%). SOXX offers balanced exposure to the whole chip sector, but Qualcomm is a secondary position here rather than a driver.
SMH — VanEck Semiconductor ETF
SMH , the largest semiconductor ETF at about $67 billion in assets, actually holds more Qualcomm than SOXX does: QCOM is roughly 4.06%of the fund, its 11th-largest position. Because SMH tracks a 25-stock, market-cap-weighted index, it is far more top-heavy — Nvidia alone is around 24%, and the top five names make up roughly 50% — so Qualcomm is a mid-single-digit supporting player behind the mega-cap AI leaders.
XSD and PSI — Equal-Weight and Factor Options
XSD (SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF) uses a modified equal-weight approach across 48 names, so Qualcomm's 2.46%weight sits close to that of far smaller chipmakers — good for diversification, but it dilutes QCOM's impact. PSI (Invesco Dynamic Semiconductors ETF) uses a quantitative, factor-based model that ranks stocks on momentum, quality and value, so Qualcomm's weight rises or falls depending on how it scores — and as of the latest holdings, QCOM does not appear among PSI 's 31 positions at all. Investors who specifically want Qualcomm exposure should check the current basket rather than assume it is there.
Broad Tech and Dividend ETFs
Beyond dedicated semiconductor funds, Qualcomm shows up in broad technology ETFs (like VGT and XLK ) and, because it pays a solid dividend, in various dividend and value ETFs — though at small weights in each. For most diversified investors, this is how they already own a slice of Qualcomm without knowing it.
What This Means for ETF Investors
The key takeaway is that your Qualcomm exposure depends heavily on which ETF you choose. If you're bullish on QCOM specifically and want the recent rally to matter to your returns, FTXL delivers the highest weight, with SMH the next-heaviest — and, counterintuitively, a bigger QCOM position than SOXX . If you'd rather ride the broader AI-chip leaders and treat Qualcomm as a smaller contributor, SMH 's mega-cap tilt does that as well. And if you want Qualcomm's upside without betting heavily on any single chipmaker, an equal-weight fund like XSD spreads the risk. As always, the same stock can have very different impact depending on the fund's weighting methodology — and, as PSI shows, a factor-driven fund may not hold it at all.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Qualcomm stock on a tear in 2026?Recently, yes — QCOM has rebounded from an August low near $148 and jumped again on Sept. 8 after unveiling its custom AI chip collaboration with Amazon. But the full year has been volatile: it bottomed near $122 in April, set a record around $260 in May, then slid roughly 35%, and it remains well below that high.
Which ETF holds the most Qualcomm? FTXL (First Trust Nasdaq Semiconductor ETF) has the highest QCOM weight at roughly 6.43%, its sixth-largest holding. SMH holds it at about 4.06%, SOXX at about 2.98% and XSD at about 2.46%.
Why is Qualcomm stock rising?Its move into AI data centers — including the multi-generational Amazon/AWS custom silicon collaboration announced Sept. 8, 2026 — plus a growing IoT/AI-PC segment, a fast-ramping automotive business and a reported OpenAI/MediaTek chip partnership have driven optimism about revenue beyond its maturing smartphone business.
What is the risk with Qualcomm?Its largest revenue source is still smartphone chips, a mature and cyclical market, plus the long-term risk that Apple replaces Qualcomm modems with its own. Recent results underline the pressure: June-quarter revenue fell 4% and non-GAAP EPS dropped 20% year over year. The bull case rests on auto, IoT, and data center growth offsetting that.
How can I invest in Qualcomm through an ETF?Semiconductor ETFs like FTXL , SMH , SOXX and XSD all hold QCOM; FTXL offers the highest concentration. Broad tech ETFs like VGT and XLK also hold it at smaller weights, while PSI currently does not hold the stock.
Qualcomm isn't on a straight-line tear — 2026 has been a volatile round trip — but the rebound off August's lows, capped by the Amazon AI chip agreement, has reignited the bull case for a stock long dismissed as a smartphone-chip has-been. For ETF investors, the exposure that matters most comes down to fund choice: FTXL for the heaviest QCOM weight (~6.43%), SMH for the mega-cap-led AI-chip trade with a still-meaningful ~4.06% Qualcomm position, and SOXX for balanced sector exposure (~2.98%). Whether Qualcomm's comeback has legs depends on whether its AI diversification can outrun the handset trough — but either way, most investors already own a piece of the story.
Data as of Sept. 8, 2026; ETF holdings weights per etf.com as of Sept. 3, 2026. Prices, holdings weights, and estimates are approximate and subject to change. Past performance does not guarantee future results. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
This article was generated with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by ETF.com staff.
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