Qualcomm Slips, Shorter-Term Momentum Cools From Roller Coaster AI Highs

Qualcomm Inc (NASDAQ:QCOM) stock slid on Wednesday as investors weighed a broader semiconductor correction and profit-taking after a sharp multi-month AI rally.

The stock gained 17% year-to-date, topping the S&P 500’s 8% and the Nasdaq 100’s 16% returns,

• Qualcomm stock is feeling bearish pressure. Why is QCOM stock dropping?

The pullback follows a “roller coaster” stretch in which unverified social media footage suggesting that NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang endorsed Qualcomm sparked a spike.

Still, the move cooled as doubts about the video’s authenticity spread.

At the same time, SLB Ltd (NYSE:SLB) announced a memorandum of understanding with Qualcomm to collaborate on edge AI solutions for energy operations, which adds a real partnership headline but hasn’t stopped the near-term unwind.

Meanwhile, the broader indexes State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1 (QQQ) recovered their premarket losses later in the day.

Chatterjee Sees Qualcomm Diversifying Beyond Handsets

JPMorgan analyst Samik Chatterjee kept Qualcomm at Neutral but raised his price forecast to $265 from $160, saying the company could use its June 24 Investor Day to highlight growth in data centers, automotive and IoT.

Chatterjee expects Qualcomm to target more than $3 billion in data center revenue in fiscal 2027 and $35 billion by fiscal 2031, supported by custom silicon, merchant CPUs, AI accelerators and Alphawave connectivity. He also expects automotive and IoT revenue to each reach about $17 billion by fiscal 2031.

The analyst said non-handset revenue could rise from about $13 billion in fiscal 2026 to about $69 billion by fiscal 2031, representing 69% of total revenue, with data centers accounting for about 35%.

Technical Analysis

From a trend perspective, Qualcomm is still in a constructive longer-term structure: it’s trading 10.7% above its 50-day SMA ($179.58) and 20.5% above its 200-day SMA ($164.98), and the golden cross in May keeps the bigger uptrend intact.

The near-term issue is momentum damage, with shares trading 10.8% below the 20-day SMA ($222.82), a level that often acts as the “line in the sand” for short-term control.

Top ETF Exposure

• Tema Global Royalties ETF (NASDAQ:ROYA): 5.25% Weight
• First Trust Nasdaq Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:FTXL): 7.13% Weight
• VanEck Fabless Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SMHX): 4.94% Weight

Significance: Because QCOM carries such a heavy weight in these funds, any significant inflows or outflows will likely trigger automatic buying or selling of the stock.

QCOM Price Action

QCOM Stock Price Activity: Qualcomm shares were down 6.07% at $192.95 at the time of publication on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Photo Courtesy: Qualcomm Snapdragon on smartphone, courtesy Qualcomm