Qualcomm Forecasts Strong First Quarter Revenue on 5G Phone Sales Growth

Business Standard Qualcomm forecasts strong first quarter revenue on 5G phone sales growth

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 (ÂŁ3.84 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.