Dive Brief:

• Google is reportedly planning to publicly support Qualcomm’s new server chips during an investor event next week, according to a report from Bloomberg Business. 
• Google collaborated with Qualcomm on design work for the new chip and should commit to using the processors if they meet certain standards, Bloomberg reports. 
• Google is the biggest purchaser of the processors that run server computers. The company currently purchases its chips from Intel. 

Dive Insight:

Qualcomm is the biggest maker of mobile-phone chips and has tried to break into Intel's market share of other computer chips. Intel currently supplies more than 99% of processors used in servers.

Breaking Intel's near monopoly of the server chip market could help keep the cost of building infrastructure down. Bloomberg reports that Alphabet, the world's most valuable corporation and Google's parent company, has tripled equipment spending since 2011. 

Intel has become more and more dependent on its mobile phone chip business and faces growing business challenges as demand for PCs has slowed. In July, Intel's president, Renée James, stepped down. In October, Intel cut its revenue growth forecast for its business of making chips for data centers as businesses reduce spending due to "weak macroeconomic growth."

Google’s potential defection could put a serious dent in Intel's earnings and threaten its near stranglehold on the server chip market.