OpenAI wants to make the phone, not just power it. The supplier list that leaked Monday sent Qualcomm up 7% in the first hour of trading.
Qualcomm shares jumped about 7% just after the opening bell after a post on X from TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, one of the most-watched analysts covering Apple's supply chain.
Kuo's claim: Qualcomm is co-building a smartphone chip for OpenAI, with Taiwan's MediaTek helping design the chip and China's Luxshare - the same firm that builds iPhones - co-designing and putting the device together.
Mass production is reportedly targeted for 2028.
Qualcomm, OpenAI, and MediaTek did not immediately confirm the partnership when CNBC asked.
The stock had been down 13% on the year heading into Monday, and even after the pop it is still in the red for 2026.
This is OpenAI's second move into consumer hardware. The company paid $6.4 billion in equity last year to buy io, the design startup founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive.
Sam Altman has said the io device will be different from a smartphone and will be revealed in roughly two years.
The smartphone chip deal is a separate, earlier bet, and Kuo explained why OpenAI cares enough to build it.
"Only by fully controlling both the operating system and hardware can OpenAI deliver a comprehensive AI agent service," Kuo wrote, adding that the smartphone is "the only device that captures the user's full real-time state" - the input OpenAI needs to feed its AI agents.
In plain English, OpenAI wants to know what you do all day, and owning the chip and the software is the cleanest way to get there.
Kuo also floated a business model angle, saying OpenAI could bundle its subs with the hardware and build a new AI agent ecosystem around developers.
For Qualcomm investors, this is a glimpse of life beyond Apple. Qualcomm makes most of its money from Snapdragon chips and modem chips - the parts that power Android phones and connect them to 4G and 5G networks.
Apple has been moving its own modem business in-house, which has been a slow-motion overhang on Qualcomm's stock.
Landing OpenAI as a chip customer would give Qualcomm a multi-year design win at a company that, if Altman is right about AI hardware, could become one of the biggest phone hardware buyers in the world.
Reports last September also said Luxshare had separately signed a deal with OpenAI to make consumer devices, which lines up with Kuo's Monday note.
The deal is not confirmed. The chip is not shipping for two years. Investors still bid the stock up 7% in the first hour of trading.
That tells you how badly they want Qualcomm to find a customer that is not Apple.
A confirmed multi-year deal with OpenAI would also give Qualcomm exposure to AI hardware demand at a time when the rest of its smartphone business is under pressure from carrier upgrade cycles slowing across most major markets.
