Qualcomm advances on smartphone market revival, Chinese handset launches

Qualcomm shares rose 4 per cent on Thursday after the chip designer's strong quarterly revenue forecast fanned investor optimism about a China-led recovery in the smartphone market. The company, the biggest supplier of smartphone chips, will add around $8 billion to its market value, if the gains hold.

It forecast both first-quarter sales and adjusted profit above market estimates on Wednesday, signaling the smartphone market was picking up after a tough 2023 as consumers upgrade devices for AI apps such as chatbots and image generators.

Demand has been especially positive in major market China, from which Qualcomm gets nearly half its revenue, thanks to new smartphone launches by brands such as Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo.

"This was a nice sign that the consumer was willing to spend on high-end cell phones," said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group. "Improvement in the Chinese market played a big role. Can that continue is the big question for investors."

Qualcomm is trying to diversify its revenue as it braces for the end of a lucrative tie-up with Apple , which is working on its own modem chips to replace those made by Qualcomm. While the deal to keep selling chips to Apple is until at least 2026, focus is on whether Qualcomm's efforts to break into laptops and artificial intelligence in data centers will ramp up quickly enough to offset declines in Apple revenue.

"Qualcomm is starting to enjoy additional revenue from the other markets it is focusing on including automotive, internet of things, headsets and PCs," said Bob O'Donnell, chief analyst at TECHnalysis Research.

President-elect Donald Trump has floated plans for blanket tariffs of 10 per cent to 20 per cent on virtually all imports as well as tariffs of 60 per cent or more on goods from China, in a bid to boost US manufacturing. "Higher tariffs, if they are applied to chips from Taiwan, which I would be very surprised if they happen ... that would be an incentive for Qualcomm to move manufacturing stateside," said O'Donnell.