Qualcomm has unveiled a significant challenge to NVIDIA's dominance in the artificial intelligence sector by launching new AI processors, the AI200 and AI250. These chips are specifically designed for the AI inference market, a core component of the data center business heavily dominated by NVIDIA. The move marks a major push by the smartphone chip giant into this lucrative space. The announcement was met with a strong positive reaction for the competitor, with Qualcomm's stock price soaring as much as 20% on Monday, October 27. This market reaction underscores the potential for a notable shift in the AI hardware landscape, introducing a 'mighty American rival' to the market leader, NVIDIA. The new processors focus on running already-trained AI models to generate responses, differing from the intensive AI training phase where NVIDIA's powerful GPUs have a stronghold.