Qualcomm Launches AI Research Unit

Qualcomm Technologies has launched a new R&D unit dedicated to artificial intelligence called Qualcomm AI Research.

In a statement announcing the new unit’s formation, the company explained that it’s meant to synthesize the various branches of AI research and development undertaken across the company, asserting that such work first got underway over a decade ago and now spans several areas including “power efficient AI, personalization, and data-efficient learning”. The ultimate aim of Qualcomm AI Research, according to Qualcomm EVP and CTO Jim Thompson, “is to make on-device AI ubiquitous”, bringing such technology into the hundreds of millions of products that feature Qualcomm technology.

The new AI unit’s launch comes soon after Qualcomm announced a new line of System-on-Chip solutions designed to leverage powerful computational and image processing capabilities for strong AI functionality. And it comes at a time of heightened and growing interest in AI more broadly, with a range of companies in tech and adjacent sectors focusing more resources on this area.

Qualcomm has not offered any indication of the size of Qualcomm AI Research’s workforce at its outset, but the company is inviting machine learning specialists to apply for a number of positions associated with the new research unit.