Qualcomm Technologies Inc. may seek to buy Alphawave IP Group PLC, a U.K.-based designer of connectivity chips.

The potential deal was disclosed on Tuesday. In a filing with the London Stock Exchange, Qualcomm stated that it’s weighing an acquisition but “there can be no certainty that any firm offer will be made, nor as to the terms on which any firm offer might be made.” The chipmaker must submit a bid until April 29 or walk away.

Though an acquisition is not certain, the disclosure of Qualcomm’s potential takeover interest sent Alphawave’s shares soaring more than 50%. The company is now worth more than $900 million.

The development comes shortly after word emerged that Arm Holdings plc had also weighed buying Alphawave recently, but eventually opted against a buyout. The chip designer was reportedly interested in Alphawave’s SerDes chip blueprints. SerDes chips are used by network switches, servers and many other systems to move data.

A server processor runs computations on many different streams of data at once. A SerDes chip can consolidate such parallel data streams into a single stream in which bits are transmitted serially, or one at a time. This consolidation is a prerequisite to transmitting information from a processor to the other components of the server in which it’s installed.

Turning parallel data streams into a serial stream boosts data transmission speeds and cuts power usage. Additionally, it reduces the risk of errors. Even minor technical issues, such as situations where a network cable is slightly shorter than the manufacturer had specified, can cause malfunctions in a parallel data stream. Serial data streams are significantly less susceptible to errors.

Besides helping a processor transmit data, a SerDes module also enables it to ingest inbound traffic from other server components. The module does so by turning the traffic into a form that the processor can more easily analyze. 

Alphawave’s SerDes chips can process up to 224 gigabits of data per second. They can power network modules that move information between different systems or between subcomponents of the same system. Some of Alphawave’s chips support CXL, a technology designed to move data between the central processing units and graphics cards in machine learning clusters.

The company sells its SerDes modules alongside several other networking products. It provides controllers, chips that help manage the flow of data between systems. Alphawave has also developed a processing module optimized to carry out cybersecurity tasks such as encrypting files.

Acquiring the company would enable Qualcomm to bring technology that is essential to many of its products in-house. SerDes chips help facilitate data movement inside smartphones, laptops and many of the other devices for which Qualcomm supplies silicon.

If the Alphawave acquisition materializes, it would mark Qualcomm’s third buyout since the start of the year. Earlier this week, the chip giant announced that it has bought Vietnamese artificial intelligence research group MovianAI. Qualcomm previously acquired Edge Impulse Inc, a venture-backed provider of AI model development software.

Photo: Qualcomm