1 November 2023
Under the Radar: Qualcomm on assessment of global smartphone shipments and its transition into an “intelligent edge computing” firm amid the rise in Generative AI
Enabling a world where everyone and everything can be intelligently connected. That’s the mission of our guest for today Qualcomm Technologies.
Founded in 1985, Qualcomm is a semiconductor designer and an innovator in wireless communications technologies. The firm relies on third party manufacturers like TSMC and Globalfoundries to make chips, which are then sold to smartphone makers.
While it is not a hardware firm, Qualcomm still transforms the way we work, live and communicate through its processors and modems.
Take your Samsung Galaxy phones powered using Qualcomm Technologies’ 5G connectivity solutions, or even the technologies behind the smart and connected factories that make the items we consume.
The firm is perhaps closer to us than we think. But with preliminary data from the International Data Corporation showing worldwide smartphone shipments declined 0.1 per cent on-year to 302.8 million units in the third quarter of 2023, what bearing will this have on Qualcomm Technologies’ business?
Meanwhile, Qualcomm Technologies said in May that it is transitioning from a communications company to an “intelligent edge computing” firm. But to what extent has that got to do with the rise in Generative AI?
On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Ehsanul Islam, VP Engineering & Regional Head of Qualcomm Technologies SEA.

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