Qualcomm forecast fiscal first-quarter revenue above estimates as
it predicted sales of 5G phones would balloon to over half a billion units next
year, powered in part by new Apple iPhone 12 models.
By Stephen Nellis
and Munsif Vengattil
(Reuters) - Qualcomm
Inc forecast fiscal first-quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates on
Wednesday as it predicted sales of 5G smart phones would balloon to more than
half a billion units next year, powered in part by new Apple Inc iPhone 12
models.
Qualcomm's shares
were up 14% in extended trading.
The San
Diego-based company is the biggest supplier of processors for smartphones and
modem chips that connect phones to wireless data networks. It has invested
heavily in developing lucrative 5G
technology hoping to profit as it becomes mainstream in mobile phones, a
trend poised to ramp up with the introduction of Apple's first 5G phones last
month.
Revenue from the
company's chip segment, its largest by sales, was $4.97 billion (£3.84 billion)
in the fiscal fourth quarter, compared with FactSet estimates of $4.59 billion.
Qualcomm this year
returned to being a major supplier for Apple, supplying chips that help the new
iPhone 12 models connect to high-speed 5G networks. Apple did not give a
forecast for its sales during the current quarter, making Qualcomm's chip sales
one of the few proxies for investors to gauge the progress of the new iPhones.
But Qualcomm is
supplying a broad swath of phone makers beyond Apple with 5G chips, which is
driving revenue and profit growth. Apple's iPhone's launched a month later than
usual, and, though he did not name Apple, Qualcomm Chief Executive Steve
Mollenkopf told Reuters in an interview that the contribution from new customer
in the quarter was small.
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