Design Verification Engineer - ASICS Engineering

Qualcomm stock has surged 45% over the past six months but has dropped 27.3% from its May high of $259.92. The company is losing Apple as a customer faster than anticipated, with management warning on 29 July 2026 that its iPhone chip share would be materially lower than the expected 20%. Apple accounts for approximately $7.5 billion of Qualcomm's $44.1 billion annual revenue, making it a significant customer to lose. The decline will accelerate starting in fiscal Q4 2026. Management projects that growth in non-handset businesses will replace the lost Apple revenue within a year. This requires accelerating growth from 24% to over 60% in fiscal 2027, including $5 billion from data centres, a market where Qualcomm is unproven. The company announced a custom chip collaboration with Amazon on 8 September 2026.

Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) automotive revenue surges 61% as U.S. EV sales slide. Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) posted automotive revenue of $1.588 billion in its latest reported quarter, even as U.S. battery-electric vehicle sales fell sharply through the same period. U.S. battery-electric vehicle sales declined 29.2% year over year through September 2026, while conventional hybrid sales rose 22.4%, according to a National Automobile Dealers Association update published October 5. Battery-electric vehicles represented just 6.2% of new light-duty vehicle sales in the United States, compared with 15.6% for conventional hybrids over the same January through September period. The divergence between those headline numbers and Qualcomm's automotive growth reflects two distinctions that matter directly to shareholders evaluating the company's trajectory. Qualcomm sells automotive chips worldwide, not exclusively into U.S. electric vehicles, and its Snapdragon platform addresses computing and connectivity functions found across gasoline, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery-electric vehicles alike. Greater China and Europe together represented 79.2% of global battery-electric and plug-in hybrid sales in August 2026, while the United States accounted for just 5.5%, illustrating the geographic mismatch between domestic EV headlines and Qualcomm's actual revenue exposure. Qualcomm's automotive revenue grew 61.4% year over year and 19.8% sequentially in fiscal Q3 2026, with automotive rising to 18.7% of total QCT semiconductor revenue, up from 10.9% a year earlier. The Snapdragon Digital Chassis encompasses cockpit, connectivity, and driver-assistance platforms, meaning Qualcomm can compete for a larger share of the computing workload inside each vehicle regardless of powertrain type. BMW's July 2026 selection of Qualcomm as its lead compute silicon provider for next-generation cockpit and automated-driving programs starting in the 2030s supports long-term positioning, though it does not explain revenue already reported. Snapdragon Ride Pilot launched commercially in November 2025 inside the BMW iX3, establishing a production-level deployment of Qualcomm's driving-system technology at a major global automaker. Consolidation of cockpit and driving workloads onto shared computing hardware, as addressed by Ride Flex, could allow Qualcomm to capture a larger computing assignment per vehicle even as the total chip count within that vehicle declines. Semiconductor shipments to manufacturers occur before vehicles reach buyers, and inventory adjustments can separate chip orders from retail sales figures, making direct comparisons between Qualcomm's reported results and monthly vehicle sales data unreliable. Despite the strong automotive performance, Qualcomm's total fiscal Q3 revenue still fell approximately 4%, and Apple's development of its own modems continues to threaten a portion of Qualcomm's chip content in smartphones. Automotive growth does not automatically replace lost handset profits, and investors should evaluate Qualcomm's shares against sustainable company-wide earnings rather than treating individual design awards as revenue already secured. The U.S. EV slowdown sharpens the case for understanding what Qualcomm actually supplies inside a vehicle, since continued gains in computing content across multiple powertrain types can support growth even when American battery-electric sales remain under pressure.

Qualcomm Arm trial: explosive courtroom battle over billions in royalties. The Qualcomm Arm trial opened Monday in a US federal court in Delaware, the latest chapter in a long-running dispute between chipmaker Qualcomm and chip technology firm Arm Holdings. Qualcomm, one of Arm's largest customers, accuses Arm of withholding chip testing tools that were due under contract. It also alleges that Arm leaked to the media its 2024 threat to terminate a vital license agreement, and that the leak damaged discussions for a chip deal between Qualcomm and Meta Platforms. What Qualcomm wants from the Qualcomm Arm trial. Qualcomm is seeking to stop paying royalties to Arm for up to five years, a sum potentially worth billions of dollars. That remedy could have a major impact on Arm's sales. However, Judge Maryellen Noreika is weighing whether to throw out that term of the contract. If she does, Qualcomm would be able to seek only a smaller amount of damages. The Meta deal at the center of the dispute. In her opening statement, Qualcomm attorney Karen Dunn told the jury that Qualcomm had been on the cusp of a deal with Meta when Arm notified Qualcomm that it was in breach of its architecture agreement. Qualcomm alleges Arm then leaked that notification letter to Bloomberg News. According to Dunn, Meta became concerned that Qualcomm would lose its license. By the time Qualcomm secured the Meta deal, she said, its value had decreased by $170 million. "Delay is costly." - Karen Dunn, attorney for Qualcomm Arm's defense: "not harmed in the least" Arm's attorney, Gregg LoCascio, offered the jury a very different account. He said jurors would learn that what really happened was that Meta shifted to AI eyeglasses and away from virtual reality headsets. As a result, Meta sought to adjust the financial terms for Qualcomm chips. "They were not harmed in the least." - Gregg LoCascio, attorney for Arm The bench trial: good faith and the next chip architecture. Alongside the jury proceedings, Judge Noreika is hearing a related bench trial. It centers on whether Arm has negotiated in good faith with Qualcomm for the next version of Arm's chip technology. Qualcomm's agreement with Arm runs through 2033. Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon testified during this portion of Monday's proceedings. Qualcomm's attorney returned repeatedly to a chart showing that Arm was seeking a 1,800 per cent increase in royalty payments between version 9 and version 10 of its computing architecture. Cross-Examination puts pricing under the microscope. On cross-examination, Arm's attorney pressed Amon on whether Qualcomm was aiming to hold Arm to the pricing in a 2013 architecture licensing deal. That agreement capped royalties at $1.88 per chip for any chip with at least five central processor cores. Arm's attorney suggested that the deal, which dates from an era of smaller smartphone chips, was under-priced in 2026's market, where some data center chips have 288 central processor cores. He asked Amon whether the structure means Qualcomm would be paying royalties for five central processor cores on larger chips and "getting 283 for free." "I don't see it that way." - Cristiano Amon, CEO of Qualcomm A contentious history between Arm and Qualcomm. The five-day trial marks another stage in a contentious relationship. Arm sued Qualcomm in 2022, alleging that Qualcomm had breached its contracts. Qualcomm, however, came away with a key victory in 2024. What to watch next. The Qualcomm Arm trial raises questions that reach well beyond these two companies. The jury must weigh competing explanations for what happened with the Meta deal, while the judge considers both the scope of any damages and the fairness of Arm's negotiating conduct. With Qualcomm's agreement running through 2033, the outcome could shape how chip architecture licenses are priced and enforced for years to come.