Qualcomm forecasts decline in its business with Apple, and its stocks skyrocket
Qualcomm may be Apple's primary 5G modem chip supplier, but it's no secret that the two companies have years of bad blood between them, all the way up to a court settlement just days ago. Nor is it a secret that for a long time, Apple has been planning a big move to begin its own in-house wireless chip production, and wean itself from further reliance on Qualcomm.
Qualcomm is well aware that its business will Apple will likely see a decline in the future, as the Cupertino giant continues pushing towards self-sufficiency. At an investors conference this Tuesday, Qualcomm made some surprising forecasts—which made its stock prices soar within hours, leaping up 7.9% by the end of the day.
Qualcomm's prediction was that by the year 2023, the chip supplier expects to provide just 20% of Apple's wireless connectivity chips. And by the following year, Qualcomm says, the chips sold to Apple will drop to 9% or less.
The point that Qualcomm was trying to make is that it is no longer relying on a single partnerships for its main source source of revenue, which is what investors were already getting worried about as they kept up with Apple and the strained relationships between the two companies. And the point certainly came through, bulling Qualcomm stock prices sky-high overnight.
"This company can no longer be defined by a single market and a single end-customer,” declared Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon on Tuesday.
This year alone, Qualcomm's total chip sales amounted to a revenue of $27 billion—although what percentage of that is owed to Apple, the company declined to share. The company has been expanding beyond mobile chips (although that is what it is best known for) for a long time now, capitalizing on chip production needs in the automobile, PC, and virtual reality markets.
In fact, more than 30% of its chip sales now fall outside the mobile industry, including chips made for various home appliances.
Qualcomm's role in the automotive industry is on the rise as well (as mentioned by CNBC), with the company forming a partnership with BMW, whose future self-driving cars will feature Qualcomm chips.
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