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• The Intel of the smartphone world.
• The Dolby Labs of mobile communication technology.

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• Snapdragon Processors: These are system-on-a-chip (SoC) platforms powering smartphones, tablets, PCs, XR devices, and other connected products.
• Qualcomm Technology Licensing (QTL): This segment licenses Qualcomm's extensive patent portfolio, primarily related to foundational cellular communication technologies, to manufacturers worldwide (categorized as: Intellectual Property Licensing).
• Automotive Platforms: Comprehensive solutions like the Snapdragon Digital Chassis, providing advanced features for in-car infotainment, telematics, and assisted driving systems.
• IoT Chipsets: Integrated circuits designed for a wide range of Internet of Things applications, including smart home devices, wearables, industrial automation, and retail solutions.
• RF Front-End (RFFE) Solutions: Modules and components that optimize radio performance for 5G and other wireless communication standards in mobile and IoT devices.

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Qualcomm (QCOM) primarily sells its products and intellectual property to other companies (B2B), which then integrate Qualcomm's chipsets, modems, and other technologies into their end devices. Its major customers are global manufacturers of smartphones, automotive systems, IoT devices, and other connected products.

Here are some of its major customer companies:

• Apple Inc. (Symbol: AAPL) - A critical customer for modems and other components, particularly for its iPhone and iPad product lines, and also a licensee of Qualcomm's patent portfolio.
• Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (Symbol: 005930.KS) - A major global smartphone manufacturer that widely uses Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors and modems in many of its flagship and mid-range devices across various regions.
• Xiaomi Corporation (Symbol: 1810.HK) - A leading Chinese smartphone manufacturer that heavily relies on Qualcomm's Snapdragon mobile platforms for a vast majority of its smartphone and other connected device offerings.

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• Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM)
• Samsung Electronics (SSNLF)
• GlobalFoundries (GFS)
• Amkor Technology (AMKR)
• ASE Technology Holding (ASX)

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Cristiano Amon, President and Chief Executive Officer

Cristiano Amon is a Brazilian electrical engineer who serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Qualcomm. He joined Qualcomm in 1995 as an engineer. Amon briefly left Qualcomm to work for Ericsson, VeloCom, and Vésper. While at Vésper, he served as Chief Technology Officer and Chief Operating Officer, where he played a crucial role in turning the struggling telecom company profitable, which subsequently led to its sale to Embratel in 2003. He rejoined Qualcomm in 2004 and has since held various leadership positions, including President of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies (QCT). He was appointed CEO in June 2021 and has been instrumental in shaping Qualcomm's 5G strategy and diversifying the company's business into areas such as automotive, computing, and virtual reality.

Akash Palkhiwala, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer

Akash Palkhiwala serves as the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Qualcomm. He joined Qualcomm in 2001, and prior to that, he worked as an Analyst at KeyBank and as a Private Equity Analyst at Key Principal Partners from 1999 to 2001. Throughout his tenure at Qualcomm, he has held several finance leadership roles, including Treasurer, Financial Planning & Analysis, and Corporate Development. Palkhiwala was appointed Chief Financial Officer in 2019 and took on the additional role of Chief Operating Officer in January 2024.

Dr. Baaziz Achour, Chief Technology Officer

Dr. Baaziz Achour is the Chief Technology Officer of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. He began his career at Qualcomm as a Systems Engineer in 1993. Over his long tenure, Dr. Achour has held various leadership roles within the engineering organization, contributing significantly to the development of nearly every generation of wireless technology. He was a key member of the leadership team responsible for the accelerated launch of 5G and will now lead the evolution of cellular technology towards 6G. He was named Deputy Chief Technology Officer in 2023 and assumed the role of Chief Technology Officer effective February 3, 2025.

Ann Chaplin, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary

Ann Chaplin is the General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Qualcomm Incorporated, a position she assumed in November 2021. Before joining Qualcomm, Chaplin served as corporate secretary and deputy general counsel for General Motors (GM) for nearly six years. Prior to her time at GM, she was a partner at Fish & Richardson, where she managed the firm's litigation practice group with a focus on patent, trade secret, trademark, and copyright litigation.

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1. Customer Concentration and In-house Chip Development

2. Geopolitical and Regulatory Risks

3. Intense Competition and Intellectual Property Disputes

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There are clear emerging threats to Qualcomm (QCOM):

• Major customers developing in-house chip solutions: Key customers are increasingly designing their own system-on-chips (SoCs) and modems, directly competing with Qualcomm's core QCT (chip) business. An example is Google, which now uses its custom Tensor chips in its Pixel smartphones, displacing Qualcomm's Snapdragon in those devices. Similarly, Apple is actively developing its own 5G modems to replace Qualcomm's components in its iPhones, a move that would significantly impact Qualcomm's revenue from its most lucrative customer. This trend mirrors how Apple's in-house A-series chips displaced third-party suppliers and how Intel's Mac business was eventually replaced by Apple Silicon.
• The rise of the RISC-V architecture: The open-source RISC-V instruction set architecture is gaining significant traction across various computing segments, including embedded systems, IoT, and potentially more powerful edge devices. As an open standard, RISC-V allows companies to design highly customized and potentially lower-cost chips without relying on proprietary instruction set licenses (like ARM, which Qualcomm heavily leverages). This growing ecosystem could enable new competitors or customers to develop their own purpose-built chips, eroding Qualcomm's market share in specific areas, especially as it pushes into new markets like automotive and IoT beyond its traditional mobile stronghold.

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Qualcomm (QCOM) operates in several significant addressable markets for its main products and services. The company projects its overall total addressable market (TAM) to expand to approximately $900 billion globally by 2030, driven by the proliferation of connectivity and an estimated 50 billion connected edge device shipments during this period.

Here's a breakdown of the addressable markets for Qualcomm's primary offerings:

• Automotive: The addressable market for chips in the automotive sector is estimated to exceed $100 billion globally by 2030. Qualcomm aims to achieve $8 billion in annual revenue from its automotive segment by fiscal year 2029.
• Internet of Things (IoT): The global IoT chipset market was valued at over $450 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach $750 billion by 2032, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) exceeding 6.4% between 2024 and 2032. Qualcomm anticipates its IoT revenues to reach $14 billion by fiscal year 2029.
• PC (Personal Computers): Qualcomm is targeting $4 billion in revenue from PC applications by fiscal year 2029. The Snapdragon X compute platform is designed to address the PC market, specifically targeting devices in the $600 price range and above. In the first calendar quarter of 2025, Snapdragon-based PCs held approximately 9% share of Windows laptops priced above $600 in the U.S. and top five European countries.
• Extended Reality (XR - VR, MR, AR): Qualcomm expects to generate $2 billion in revenue from its XR business by fiscal year 2029.
• RF Front-End (RFFE): The global RFFE mobile handset market (including 3G and 4G) was approximately $13 billion in 2019 and was projected to grow to about $18 billion with 5G within three years (by 2022). The North America RF Front-End Chip Market was valued at $5,210.41 million in 2022 and is projected to reach $13,067.96 million by 2030, exhibiting a CAGR of approximately 12.2%. The automotive RF TAM is estimated to be $3 billion, based on 70% of cars being connected in 2024 and 5G RF content per car up to $30.
• 5G Technology (Chipsets and Infrastructure): The global 5G chipset market was valued at $33.08 billion in 2024 and is forecast to grow to $300.88 billion by 2032, with a CAGR of 31.7% during the forecast period. The Asia Pacific region held the largest share (39.48%) of this market in 2024. The global 5G infrastructure market is anticipated to reach $43.50 billion in 2025 and $675.9 billion by 2034, with a CAGR of 41.7% from 2025 to 2034. Overall, sales enabled by 5G technology are projected to reach $13.1 trillion globally by 2035.
• Wi-Fi (Chipsets and Connectivity): The global Wi-Fi market size is estimated at $18.48 billion in 2025 and is expected to grow to $35.89 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 14.20%. The global Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6E, and Wi-Fi 7 chipset market was valued at $39.03 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach $89.34 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 13.6% from 2025 to 2030. Annual shipments of Wi-Fi-enabled devices globally are expected to increase from 3.5 billion in 2022 to over 5.5 billion by 2028.

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Qualcomm (QCOM) is strategically positioning itself for significant revenue growth over the next 2-3 years, driven by its diversification efforts beyond its traditional smartphone market. Key drivers include expansion into the automotive and Internet of Things (IoT) sectors, a strong push into AI-enabled PCs, the emerging data center AI market, and continued advancements in premium-tier Android handsets.

• Automotive Sector Expansion: Qualcomm is heavily investing in the automotive market with its Snapdragon Digital Chassis platform, including autonomous driving technology like Snapdragon Ride Pilot. The company aims for its automotive revenues to reach $8 billion by fiscal year 2029. This segment has shown consistent growth, with automotive sales increasing by 17% year-over-year in a recent quarter.
• Growth in Internet of Things (IoT): The IoT segment, encompassing industrial automation, connected devices, and extended reality (XR), is another significant growth area. Qualcomm projects IoT revenues to expand to $14 billion by fiscal year 2029. This includes products for industrial, Wi-Fi 7 access points, 5G fixed wireless, and smart glasses.
• AI-enabled PCs: Qualcomm is targeting the burgeoning market for AI PCs with its Snapdragon X Series processors. The company expects its PC segment to generate $4 billion in revenues by fiscal year 2029, with approximately 150 designs anticipated to be commercialized through 2026.
• Data Center AI Solutions: Qualcomm is entering the data center market with new AI inference hardware, specifically the AI 200 and AI 250 chips, aimed at hyperscaler deployments. This initiative represents a potential multi-billion-dollar revenue opportunity within a few years, with commercial availability expected in 2026 and 2027.
• Advancements in Handset Content and Capabilities: While diversifying, Qualcomm continues to see growth in its core QCT handset business, particularly with the introduction of new flagship Android handset launches powered by Snapdragon platforms featuring advanced 5G and on-device AI capabilities. The company anticipates low-teens percentage sequential growth in QCT handset revenues.

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Share Repurchases

• Qualcomm announced a new $15 billion share repurchase authorization on November 6, 2024.
• A $10 billion stock repurchase authorization was approved in July 2021, in addition to $0.9 billion remaining from a previous program.
• The company executed $2.8 billion in share repurchases in Q3 2025 alone and over $1.74 billion in the first half of 2025.

Outbound Investments

• Qualcomm acquired Nuvia, a server CPU startup, for approximately $1.4 billion in March 2021.
• The company acquired the advanced driver-assistance systems and autonomous driving software brand Arriver in March 2022.
• Qualcomm completed the acquisition of Autotalks on June 5, 2025, for an undisclosed amount, and agreed to acquire Alphawave IP Group for $2.4 billion on June 9, 2025, to expand into data center and AI infrastructure markets.

Capital Expenditures

• Qualcomm's capital expenditures were $1.888 billion in fiscal year 2021, peaked at $2.262 billion in fiscal year 2022, and subsequently decreased to $1.450 billion in fiscal year 2023 and $1.041 billion in fiscal year 2024.
• Cash outflows for capital expenditures were $1.2 billion in fiscal year 2025.
• Capital expenditures are expected to increase from fiscal year 2025 in the near term, primarily to support the testing of integrated circuits, with a forecast of $1.114 billion for fiscal year 2026.