Qualcomm CEO: Intel’s Foundry Is Not Ready for Our Chips

Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon has said Intel’s chip production technology is not yet sufficient for Qualcomm to consider it a viable manufacturing partner, even though the company would like Intel to eventually become one of its options. Qualcomm continues to operate a fabless model, licensing designs from Arm and outsourcing manufacturing to TSMC and Samsung, with smartphone makers purchasing the finished processors from Qualcomm.

The article notes that Intel is not currently an option, and that Qualcomm will continue to rely on TSMC and Samsung for fabrication of its smartphone processors. It adds that, at present, only TSMC and Samsung possess the advanced process nodes required for leading-edge chip manufacturing, and that TSMC has announced plans to raise wafer prices starting next year.

Beyond smartphones, Qualcomm is expanding into automotive semiconductors, aiming to bring its mobile technologies into vehicles and other markets, with revenue from automotive and connected devices projected to reach $22 billion by 2029.