Qualcomm Shows off First Wi-Fi 8 Chip, Plans 6G Rollout by 2029

You might still be digging for devices to connect to your Wi-Fi 7 router, but Qualcomm is already forging ahead. At Mobile World Congress this week, it showed off a new Wi-Fi 8-capable chip in the FastConnect 8800. It's designed to provide the kind of extreme bandwidth and concurrent connection support of a future in which AI uses the internet as much as we do.

Today's mainstream routers tend to offer Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 6E support, but Wi-Fi 7 has been available for years, with its more premium performance and feature set. But even that won't be enough for the agentic AI age, according to Qualcomm, which has something vastly more powerful up its sleeve.

The FastConnect 8800 will offer double the performance of its predecessor, with support for Bluetooth 7.0, Ultra Wideband 802.15.4ab connectivity, and improved range from the router itself. It ...