Tag: Steve Mollenkopf

Cristiano Amon Replacing Steve Mollenkopf As Qualcomm CEO

Steve Mollenkopf is retiring as CEO of Qualcomm after 26 years at the company, and will be replaced by Cristiano Amon.

Mollenkopf has served as CEO since 2014. Prior to serving as CEO, Mollenkopf began his career at Qualcomm as an engineer, giving him an invaluable insight into the technical aspects of the company’s business. In recent years, Mollenkops has guided the company through major industry transitions, including the development of 5G, as well as fending off antitrust lawsuits the company faced.

“Steve navigated through unprecedented circumstances during his tenure, facing more in his seven years as CEO than most leaders face in their entire careers,” said Mark McLaughlin, Chair of Qualcomm’s Board of Directors. “Under Steve’s leadership, the Company remained focused and created immense value for stockholders, inventing key technologies that are driving economic growth and improving lives. On behalf of the entire Qualcomm Board, I want to thank Steve for the vision and leadership he brought during his years as CEO and for leading what I am confident will be a seamless transition. Cristiano was the clear choice to be Qualcomm’s next CEO, having the track record of successful execution, deep Company knowledge, very strong relationships with our ecosystem of partners, and the strategic vision to take the Company forward. He is an authentic leader who has played a critical role in the Company’s success. We look forward to working together with him to lead the Company through its next chapter of growth.”

Cristiano Amon will replace Mollenkopf after serving as Qualcomm President since 2018. Amon has been responsible for Qualcomm’s semiconductor business and played and important role in the company’s 5G strategy. This experience makes him the obvious choice for the company moving forward.

“I am immensely proud of all that we have accomplished at Qualcomm and the position the Company currently enjoys as the world’s leader in wireless technologies,” Mollenkopf said. “With our business model clearly validated and our leadership in 5G, this is the right time for Cristiano to assume leadership of the Company and preside over what I see as the single largest opportunity in the Company’s history. Cristiano spearheaded the development of our 5G strategy, including its acceleration, industry-leading technology roadmap and global rollout. He was also a key architect and driver of Qualcomm’s strategy to expand and diversify our business beyond mobile and into new industry segments such as Auto, RF Front-End and IoT. Qualcomm is well positioned for the future and I am confident that with Cristiano as CEO, the Company will continue to invent leading technologies and create value for all of our stakeholders.”

The transition will effective June 30, 2021.

January 5, 2021
Qualcomm CEO: 5G Rollout Faster Than 4G

Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf says that 5G is rolling out faster than 4G:

The 5G rollout is actually faster than the 4G rollout if you just look at the number of networks launching in the first year and a half to two years of the launch. Also, just look at the degree to which the new technology is existing in the portfolios of handset manufacturers and how deep they go in terms of the price tiers. The other thing that is really important is that the handset market has actually already made the switch to that technology even before you start to see the deployment.

When we look at it with the eyes of seeing many of these transitions we’re quite pleased with the way the 5G rollout is occurring.

5G Handsets Grew 150% Year-Over-Year

5G handsets grew by 150% year-over-year. What gives us confidence is if you look this year the real question was how would the market react to the COVID pandemic? Obviously, a couple of quarters ago, there was a lot of concern about how different industries would react. What’s happened in the handset industry is it’s probably come back a little stronger than people expected. One of the reasons that we had such a good print this quarter was because the handset market in total was a little stronger than we thought.

We thought it might be down about 15% due to COVID but it ended up being about 5% down. We’ve used that as an assumption moving forward. So we have a lot of confidence actually in our 5G forecast and the handset forecast overall. I think our visibility into the way that the market is performing even in this pandemic environment has increased over the last several quarters.

Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf: 5G Rollout Faster Than 4G

November 5, 2020
5G Dramatically Accelerates Industrial Digitization, Says Qualcomm CEO

“The total amount of economic impact of 5G in 2035 is going to be $13.2 trillion,” says Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf. “You can think of (the growth of 5G) in two phases. One is a handset phase and the second one is a phase related to industries using 5G to accelerate digitization. They’re requiring the second rev of 5G. This is really about all the features to make high reliable factories. There are special features that we have put into the standard which will come out in a second, third, and fourth-wave over the next decade.

Steve Mollenkopf, CEO of Qualcomm, discusses the massive economic and transformational impact that 5G will have on consumers, industry, and Qualcomm over the next 15 years in an interview with CNBC:

Total Economic Impact of 5G To Be $13.2 Trillion by 2035

The serviceable available opportunity for 5G is going from $65 billion in 2019 to $100 billion in 2022. In really just three years, it grows a dramatic amount. It just gives you a sense of how important 5G will be to Qualcomm’s business. I also gave a number (at the company’s analyst day) that said the total amount of economic impact of 5G in 2035 is going to be $13.2 trillion. So 5G is going to be an important thing. Qualcomm really at this point does not have an opportunity problem.

You should think of 5G (and how it impacts Qualcomm) in two phases. The first phase is essentially we make more money out of the existing cellular business just because it’s going to 5G. It’s going to go to 5G over the next decade. We will sell more expensive products and we get a bigger portion of the phone BOM in the products that we sell. Then, in addition, the technology that’s required in order to be successful in that market is also very important in other markets that are now taking on 5G.

Auto is the best first example of that. But there are many others behind it. We essentially have the ability to take the R&D that we’re producing in the smartphone space and leverage it multiple times for the benefit of the shareholders.

Industries Using 5G To Accelerate Digitization

Investors are really going to see it over the next two quarters for us and actually through the next year. If you look at our last earnings call we essentially gave I think a strong guide for our licensing business, which sits as a proxy for the Christmas season selling. Then we said we’re going to give a soft indication of what we thought the March quarter would be. We essentially said you’re going to see 5G start impacting our product business at that time. It’ll come in two phases during the calendar year. One at the beginning of the year and then another one in the second half of the year when some flagship launches launch in both places.

You can think of (the growth of 5G) in two phases. One is a handset phase and the second one is a phase related to industries using 5G to accelerate digitization. Lucky for us, the handset phase, which is the first one, is probably the largest market and it’ll instantly happen. It will happen over the next decade starting next calendar year. In a month you’ll start to see that in the results of our business. You’re going to see that kind of play out over a long period of time as the handset market does now.

Then you go into these adjacent markets, the digitization and industrial. They’re requiring the second rev of 5G. There are multiple revs of the standard. The first one is based on handsets. The second one is really about all the features to make high reliable factories. We talked a little bit in the past about healthcare, gaming, and those things. There are special features that we have put into the standard which will come out in a second, third, and fourth-wave over the next decade. It’s that second wave which is really about the other industries besides the handset.

5G Dramatically Accelerates Industrial Digitization, Says Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf

November 20, 2019
5G is Designed So That Industries Can Use Cellular at Massive Scale, Says Qualcomm CEO

“The transitions, 3G to 4G, 4G to 5G, are very important in order to maintain your leadership position and also it enables you to really open up and expand your business in the new areas,” says Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf. “5G is really designed so that other industries such as automotive, self-driving cars, connected healthcare, connected education, connected infrastructure, are really set up to use cellular for the first time at massive scale.”

Steve Mollenkopf, CEO of Qualcomm, discusses how 5G is for the first time enabling industry to use cellular technology on a massive scale in an interview on CNBC:

5G is Designed So That Industries Can Use Cellar at Massive Scale

In this industry, you do not want to miss the transitions. The transitions, 3G to 4G, 4G to 5G, are very important in order to maintain your leadership position and also it enables you to really open up and expand your business in the new areas. This is more so true on 5G than any other G transition. We wanted to make sure that we were able to position the company do that. We did that while at the same time we brought a lot of other costs discipline within the envelope. We’re very pleased to be able to do that. It was a good call to make. I’m very proud of the team to be able to execute on that in the midst of what probably looked like a lot of distractions from the outside.

5G is really designed so that other industries such as automotive, self-driving cars, connected healthcare, connected education, connected infrastructure, are really set up to use cellular for the first time at massive scale. Our problem today is not, do we have a great technology lead? It is how do we scale that across new industries? This is a good problem to have and I’m looking forward to tackling it with all my energy.

The Energy of the Companies is on How to Ramp up Quickly

Really talking about the past and some of the he said she said is not that helpful. I can tell you where the energy of the two companies is right now. The energy of the companies right now is let’s figure out how to ramp up as quickly as possible. The relationship is focused on that issue. I’ve had a lot of discussions not only within my team but also with the Apple team. That’s the focus. We talk all the time. The companies to get to an agreement as complex as this you’ve got to talk. But I can tell you, companies like this they move on and they move on to the things that are natural to work together which is products. We’re all excited about doing that.

We are two product-focused organizations. We’re working on products, we’ve done it in the past and we love doing it. We’re good at doing it. That’s where the focus is that’s what we’re excited about. The reality is when you’re working on technologies that are meaningful and are relevant to many industries worldwide you’re going to grab attention. As long as you have a technology lead you can work your way through that. We were able to do that in the past and certainly were able to do that over the last five-plus years. I’m sure it’s going to be a little bit more calm but I can tell you I’m very happy to have that technology position.

5G is Designed So That Industries Can Use Cellar at Massive Scale, Says Qualcomm CEO

April 17, 2019