AWS taps Qualcomm for custom inference silicon and 1.6 Tbps optics

On September 8, 2026, Amazon Web Services announced a partnership with Qualcomm for custom AI inference silicon and 1.6 Tbps optical interconnect gear, under a commercial commitment that could reach $60 billion through September 2036. A strong signal about the diversification of AWS’s silicon supply chain — and about the real bottleneck of AI clusters: the network.