Last year should be Qualcomm's most difficult year, Broadcom eyeing the acquisition, the EU's huge fines, coupled with abandoned Apple's Qualcomm baseband processor, it is legendary before the Tigers, followed by pursuers, then this year how Qualcomm will be Break it? Is 5G and notebook really can save Qualcomm.
How to break through? Qualcomm 2018 three major problems
Problem 1: Broadcom acquisition offer
In November last year, Broadcom plans to bid over 100 billion US dollars acquisition of Qualcomm, triggering industry hot.But in the face of Broadcom's offer, Qualcomm to 'underestimate the value of Qualcomm' to be rejected, but failed to stop Broadcom's ambition to acquire Qualcomm This also means that in 2018, Qualcomm not only had to face patent disputes and institutional investigations, but also distracted to deal with 'eyeing' Broadcom.
It is reported that Broadcom plans to chip up to 120 billion US dollars, to further increase the possibility of acquiring Qualcomm, Broadcom even plans to regulators to block the transaction, the transaction can not be reached, to provide Qualcomm higher than the usual 'break fee'. But for Qualcomm, the good news is that domestic manufacturers (millet, OPPO and vivo, etc.) as well as foreign giants (Microsoft and Google) are opposed to Broadcom's acquisition of Qualcomm, giving Qualcomm more confidence and confidence.
Problem 2: Apple to give up Qualcomm baseband processor
On the one hand, Qualcomm accused Apple of patent infringement and sought to ban the iPhone; on the one hand, Apple accused Qualcomm of abusing its position in the industry and even called Qualcomm a "patent rogue" Affected by this dispute, not only the sharp drop in Qualcomm's net profit, and its increasingly unstable cooperation with Apple.For example, from last year, the market has repeatedly heard that Apple will abandon Qualcomm baseband processor rumors.
In September last year, sources said Apple had invested in R & D of cellphone baseband processors and dug Esin Terzioglu, a Qualcomm baseband processor developer. Last October, people familiar with the matter said that Apple was trying hard not to use the iPhone in the future Qualcomm technology, instead of selecting Intel and MediaTek modems. Yesterday (February 5), KGI Securities analyst Guo Mingqi issued the latest report, saying that "Apple plans to 2018 iPhone baseband chip orders to Intel, all from As an exclusive supplier '.
For Qualcomm, Apple had been one of its most important big clients before, and if the rumor came true, a loss of Apple's order would have a huge impact on Qualcomm's revenue and profits; of course it would have the potential for Apple Risks - Intel is not equipped with QUALCOMM on 5G networks and past benchmarks show that iPhones equipped with Qualcomm baseband chips perform slightly better than those of Intel baseband chips.
Problem 3: Business model problems
Patent royalties have long been one of Qualcomm's major sources of profits, so we see that the cost of Apple's suspension of payment has led to a substantial decline in Qualcomm's profits. Worse still, legal disputes with Apple have also led to the fall of Qualcomm's misuse in cell phones Dominance in the chip space 'questioned its business model has therefore been investigated in many countries.
Last month, the European Commission said it imposed a fine of 997 million euros ($ 1,229 million) on Qualcomm because of misusing its market dominance. In October last year, Taiwan fined 9,810 million euros for "deterring manufacturers in Taiwan from undermining fair competition" to By, impose a fine of NTD34.4 billion (about US $ 778 million) on Qualcomm.
Qualcomm's controversies point to its monopoly tactics and royalties, and in fact the consequences for Qualcomm could be disastrous once Qualcomm's bundled chip business model fails, which is why Qualcomm's legal and copyright disputes Concern - If the loss of Qualcomm, there may be more mobile phone manufacturers to follow the example of Apple.
Qualcomm how break the 2018?
Although Qualcomm is facing many challenges in 2018, Qualcomm is also developing more possibilities. In addition to continue with Apple's patent dispute, Qualcomm has jointly Lenovo, millet, OPPO and vivo and other domestic mobile phone manufacturers, 5G poised. It is reported that Qualcomm will start in-depth cooperation with partners 5G, and strive to launch the first high-end 5G equipment as early as 2019. Qualcomm's technology accumulation in 5G, as well as the strong rise of domestic manufacturers, help Qualcomm better grasp 5G business opportunities.
Qualcomm also joined the Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and other vendors, reached the PC market.Based on the Snapdragon 835 laptop can run the full version of Windows 10, and with data connectivity, Networking and notebooks to reduce the dependence on the patent licensing model.But at this stage, subject to performance, price and other factors, the challenge of the Snapdragon version of Windows 10 notebook is not small, I am afraid in the short term is difficult to help Qualcomm.