Qualcomm has revealed strategies to achieve its goal to generate $22 billion in revenue over the next five years from markets beyond its core smartphone business. The company highlighted its expanding focus on automotive, laptops, and other emerging technologies at an investor event in New York.
For fiscal 2024, which ended September 29, Qualcomm reported $8.32 billion in revenue from these non-smartphone segments — roughly a third of its $24.86 billion smartphone chip revenue. By fiscal 2029, it expects significant growth across key areas, including:
Automotive Chips: $8 billion, driven by partnerships with automakers like General Motors for dashboards and driver-assistance systems.
PC Chips: $4 billion, bolstered by collaborations with Microsoft and PC manufacturers.
Mixed-Reality Headsets: $2 billion, including devices like Meta Platforms’ offerings that already feature Qualcomm technology.
Industrial and IoT Chips: $8 billion combined, targeting factory connectivity and smart home gadgets.
This diversification effort comes as Qualcomm faces declining business from Apple, which is developing its own wireless modem chips. Akash Palkhiwala, Qualcomm’s CFO and COO, assured investors that growth in new categories would offset these losses, stating, “This growth in annual revenue far exceeds the scale of the Apple chipset business revenues today.”
However, Qualcomm’s journey has faced setbacks. IoT revenue in fiscal 2024 dipped to $5.4 billion, well below its 2021 projection of $9 billion for the same period.
Qualcomm remains the global leader in mobile phone chips, with its $39.96 billion total fiscal 2024 revenue heavily reliant on smartphone sales, Reuters news report said. Key customers like Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi, along with Chinese handset makers Oppo and Vivo, account for a significant portion of its earnings.
The company’s efforts to expand its footprint in automotive, computing, and IoT markets mark a pivotal shift in its growth trajectory.
Cristiano Amon, Akash Palkhiwala, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer; Nakul Duggal, Group General Manager of Automotive, Industrial and Cloud; Alex Katouzian, Group General Manager of Mobile, Compute and XR; and Durga Malladi, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Technology Planning & Edge Solutions, outlined the company’s expanded opportunities for diversification at its Investor Day.