U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm agreed to acquire Alphawave for about $2.4 billion on Monday, as it expands into the booming AI data center market, sending shares of the British semiconductor company surging more than 22%.

Qualcomm Inc. has agreed to buy London-listed semiconductor company Alphawave IP Group Plc for about $2.4 billion in cash to expand its technology for artificial intelligence.

US semiconductor group Qualcomm has agreed a $2.4bn deal to buy chip designer Alphawave, marking the latest tech company departure from the London market. The companies’ boards said Qualcomm’s cash offer represented a price of 183p per Alphawave share,