Modular’s $4B exit solves Nvidia’s CUDA lockout problem
qualcomm acquires modular for nearly $4 billion to port ai code across any hardware, breaking nvidia's software lock-in.
qualcomm is buying modular, the maker of a platform that lets developers write ai code once and run it on any hardware, for nearly $4 billion. founded by llvm and swift creator chris lattner, modular previously raised $250 million and positioned itself as an open alternative to nvidia's cuda. the acquisition includes $300 million for employee retention and brings 150 engineers to qualcomm to expand beyond mobile into data centers and custom ai silicon.