Qualcomm Faces Handset Revenue Decline Amid Rapid Growth in Automotive and Data Center Segments
Qualcomm (QCOM) shares have retreated approximately 36% from their 52-week high following fiscal fourth-quarter results that highlighted a significant 26% drop in handset revenue. The decline is attributed to Apple's transition to in-house modems and rising memory costs, which are pressuring the company's largest revenue driver. Consequently, quarterly revenue fell 8% year-over-year to $10.32 billion. Despite the smartphone headwinds, Qualcomm is seeing explosive growth in other sectors. Automotive revenue surged 89% to $1.99 billion, and the company has secured a massive multi-generation deal with Amazon (AMZN) for AI inference and optical connectivity chips, potentially worth up to $60 billion over ten years. Additionally, new partnerships involving SpaceX (SPCX) and an expanding data center business provide long-term growth catalysts that may offset the shrinking handset market.