California, June 24 -- US tech major Qualcomm is acquiring AI software firm Modular as it expands its presence across the generative and agentic AI ecosystem.

The semiconductor player said that it will be an all-stock deal, and the company expects to issue up to 19.2 million shares of its common stock to the equity owners of Modular. At Qualcomm's closing price on Tuesday, the deal value comes around USD3.9 billion.

By acquiring Modular, Qualcomm has gained a toehold in a strategically important AI segment that is dominated by the likes of Nvidia's CUDA. The AI software CUDA lets developers harness Nvidia's massive GPU power.

Modular provides an AI-native software stack that enables AI to run efficiently across the hardware architectur...