Qualcomm no longer looks like the bargain of the semiconductor sector when investors stack it against AI chip stocks, according to an analysis published by The Globe and Mail. The mobile-chip designer, long treated as a cheaper way to own exposure to advanced silicon, now carries a valuation that stands up poorly next to peers riding the AI boom.

The Globe and Mail's assessment cuts against a common investing narrative: that Qualcomm offers comparable technology exposure at a discount to the market's AI favorites. The argument for that discount rested on Qualcomm's dependence on smartphones, a mature market, versus peers whose data-center and AI-accelerator revenue is growing rapidly.

Why does the discount argument fail?

The newspaper's case rests on the company's fundamentals looking less inexpensive than headline multiples suggest. Qualcomm's core handset business, anchored by its Snapdragon processors and modems, generates strong profits — but growth has flattened along with the global phone market. Investors pricing Qualcomm as a cheap AI proxy are, in effect, paying AI-stock-style expectations for a company whose earnings still track handset demand.

That matters because valuation gaps between chipmakers have narrowed sharply as money rotated into anything touched by AI. Shares of companies perceived as AI beneficiaries have re-rated to levels that make traditional mobile-chip franchises look expensive relative to their growth, not cheap relative to their sector.

What does this mean for Qualcomm investors?

For buyers, the takeaway is caution rather than alarm. Qualcomm remains profitable and central to premium Android devices, with its Snapdragon platforms shipping across flagship smartphones. The question The Globe and Mail raises is whether the stock's price already reflects a re-acceleration in AI-driven demand — through on-device AI features in handsets and Qualcomm's push into PCs and automotive — that has yet to show up fully in results.

If on-device AI becomes a genuine upgrade driver in smartphones, Qualcomm could grow into its valuation. If handset demand stays soft, the stock's premium to its realistic growth rate becomes harder to justify against peers with visible data-center revenue streams.

The Globe and Mail's conclusion positions Qualcomm as fairly priced at best against its AI-chip peer group — a shift from the long-standing view of the company as the sector's value play. How quickly on-device AI translates into handset replacement demand will determine whether that verdict looks conservative or generous a year from now.