Qualcomm is in a difficult situation, and foreign media said that Huawei's MediaTek counterattack was amazing
Judging from the sales of mobile phone chips, Qualcomm has always been the hegemon of the global market. I still remember that after the launch of Snapdragon 888, many domestic mobile phone manufacturers were advertising Snapdragon, and it seemed that the advertising was not active, so Qualcomm did not give Snapdragon 888 to these mobile phone manufacturers.
Of course, Qualcomm chips are really good, from Snapdragon 835 to Snapdragon 8gen2, from Snapdragon 660 to Snapdragon 778, Qualcomm chip performance, power consumption, and experience have been recognized by the market, which is a respectable thing.
It's just that Qualcomm's performance in recent years has been like a roller coaster, which is very surprising. For this reason, there is also a foreign ** claim: Qualcomm also started"I can't play anymore"。
After 2020, Huawei was suppressed by the former United States and other countries. Under pressure, Huawei's self-developed Kirin chips do not do OEM, and as a result, Huawei has no Kirin chips available.
After Huawei did not provide Kirin chips, Qualcomm reaped two major benefits.
First of all, in order to maintain its business, Huawei can only buy Qualcomm chips for the production of mobile phones, which means that the shipment of Qualcomm chips will increase significantly.
Secondly, although Huawei uses Qualcomm chips, Huawei's global mobile phone sales have increased from 2400 million units have dropped to 30 million units in 2022, and the vacated market share of more than 200 million units has been exhausted by other mobile phone manufacturers.
Most of these manufacturers use Qualcomm chips, so Huawei's vacated chip share has been consumed by Qualcomm again.
In other words, since Huawei does not have Kirin chips, Qualcomm has almost occupied the market share of Kirin chips and made a lot of money.
In this context, Qualcomm's revenue and profit growth in recent years has not been easy. In"Huawei fell, Qualcomm was full"In the case, it is not an exaggeration.
It's just that for Qualcomm in 2023, life is not easy, and the problems it faces have begun to become severe.
First of all, Qualcomm's performance in the third fiscal quarter of 2023 is worrying, it is reported that in the third fiscal quarter, Qualcomm's revenue was 40.6 billion yuan, a decrease of 23% compared with the same period last year. In terms of profit, in the third fiscal quarter, Qualcomm's profit was $13 billion, a decrease of 52% from the same period last year.
Although Qualcomm's performance in the third fiscal quarter of 2023 is very bright compared to other companies, compared with last year, Qualcomm's performance has declined significantly, and its profit has halved. In the case that Huawei has been suppressed, Qualcomm's performance can be used"I can't bear it"to describe.
This is not over, Qualcomm came out with new news some time ago, Qualcomm is going to lay off the staff of the Shanghai R&D center, and only retain some administrative staff.
According to information from Qualcomm's employee base, more than 50 employees in the WiFi department of Qualcomm's Shanghai R&D center have been laid off, and these employees are compensated for N+7, with no cap.
In fact, Qualcomm's layoffs have been foreshadowed for a long time, and Qualcomm President Amon said that he will continue to formulate a cost-cutting plan and will not rule out another layoff. This can also be inferred from the layoffs at Qualcomm's R&D center in Shanghai.
Not only in mainland China, but also in Qualcomm worldwide, there will also be 25% layoffs, of which the former United States and Israel have already laid off employees.
From the decline in revenue and profits, to the layoffs at Qualcomm's Shanghai R&D center, and then to Qualcomm's global layoffs of 25%, this reflects Qualcomm's inability in the chip market and communication fields.
Qualcomm's above situation is also well understood, and there are two points that can explain it.
First of all, the global demand for smartphones has declined, and the demand for mobile phone chips has also declined. Qualcomm is the world's largest mobile phone chip manufacturer, and its revenue and profit decline is understandable.
The United States has practiced it for a long time"Decoupling"The policy has restricted the development of China's chip industry, resulting in China speeding up the process of chip independence, and the result is that the demand for Qualcomm chips by Chinese mobile phone manufacturers has further decreased.
Secondly, as early as the 2G, 3G, and 4G eras, Qualcomm dominated a large number of communication technologies, and Huawei, Apple and other manufacturers had to pay a large amount of patent fees to Qualcomm. Patent licensing fees alone generate billions of dollars in revenue from Qualcomm every year.
At present, the dependence of major manufacturers on Qualcomm communication technology is gradually decreasing, and Qualcomm is lagging behind Huawei in the field of 5G, so Qualcomm's communication patent fees have also decreased, which is also an important reason for the decline in Qualcomm's revenue and profits.
Qualcomm is a global communications and chip giant, but no matter how great it is, it can't stand the test of time. In recent years, Qualcomm's life has been too comfortable, and it is simply lying down to make money, which means that Qualcomm's ability to resist pressure has been greatly weakened.
Now, Qualcomm's revenue and profits are both declining, and layoffs are all over the world, so foreign media said: Qualcomm has also started"I can't play anymore"。