AI infrastructure stocks surged on Tuesday following major partnership announcements from Qualcomm and Corning. Qualcomm’s deal with Amazon includes $4 billion in stock warrants, while Corning secured a multi-billion dollar contract with Verizon for fiber-optic cable deployment.
These developments boosted confidence in the AI data center market, lifting shares of companies like Intel and AMD. The news highlights the expanding investment landscape in AI infrastructure beyond dominant players.
Wall Street witnessed a significant rally in AI infrastructure stocks on Tuesday, propelled by substantial deal announcements from industry giants Qualcomm and Corning. This positive momentum extended to other key players in the AI supply chain, including Intel and Advanced Micro Devices, signaling sustained investor confidence in the burgeoning data center market.
Corning and Qualcomm experienced notable upticks, with their advancements bolstering the AI infrastructure sector. Qualcomm announced a strategic partnership with Amazon, which included the issuance of $4 billion in stock warrants to the cloud provider. Simultaneously, Corning disclosed a multi-billion dollar agreement with Verizon to construct fiber-optic cables crucial for AI connectivity.
The surge impacted other semiconductor and technology firms. Intel saw a 9% increase, while Advanced Micro Devices gained 6%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise climbed 8%, and photonics company Coherent added 7%. These companies have been major beneficiaries of the AI infrastructure buildout, with HPE and AMD more than doubling in value this year, and Intel nearly tripling, demonstrating a broadening investment landscape beyond dominant players like Nvidia.
Corning, a key supplier of fiber-optic technology essential for AI data centers, jumped 8% on Tuesday, extending its year-to-date gains to 90%. The company's new multi-billion dollar partnership with Verizon aims to enhance AI connectivity through the deployment of advanced fiber-optic cables. This follows a significant multi-billion dollar deal Corning struck with Amazon in June, and Nvidia's commitment to invest up to $3.2 billion in Corning to establish three new fiber-optic manufacturing facilities in North Carolina and Texas.
Qualcomm's deal with Amazon involves the issuance of warrants allowing Amazon Web Services (AWS) to acquire up to $4 billion worth of Qualcomm stock. This pact is part of a broader agreement where AWS will purchase up to $60 billion worth of Qualcomm's server chips and other technologies. Qualcomm CFO Akash Palkhiwala anticipates that revenue from these chip sales to Amazon will begin in the December quarter, contributing significantly to the company's fiscal 2029 data center revenue target of $15 billion. Palkhiwala also indicated that Qualcomm is progressing with another major data center customer, previously unnamed.
Further underscoring the sector's strength, AMD CFO Jean Hu highlighted at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference that the total addressable market for AI is now projected to reach $3 trillion by 2030, a revision from CEO Lisa Su's earlier forecast of $2 trillion through 2028.
This intense market activity for AI stocks occurs amidst growing societal concerns and potential backlash regarding AI and data centers. A May 2026 Gallup poll revealed that 71% of Americans oppose the construction of data centers in their communities, a sentiment that is translating into financial risk. Companies like Anthropic are expected to list negative public opinion towards AI and data centers as a risk factor in their upcoming IPO filings.
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