Qualcomm executives expressed confidence in the company’s ability to capture chipset market share from Huawei in the back half of the year, as they revealed profit gains and record revenue in its fiscal Q1 2021 (calendar Q4 2020).

On an earnings call, Qualcomm CFO Akash Palkhiwala explained until recently Huawei was a “very large OEM” whose chipset demand was satisfied by its HiSilicon unit. But, with Huawei smartphone shipments rapidly dropping, he noted Qualcomm was poised to pounce on the company’s approximately 16 per cent chipset market share, flagging this as a “significant growth opportunity”.

Qualcomm president Cristiano Amon highlighted expected gains for its high- and premium-tier platforms, adding it was “well positioned” to capitalise “if iOS wins, if Samsung Android wins, if Vivo, Oppo, Xiaomi wins, or even if over time companies like Honor” win in the smartphone market.

Palkhiwala noted Qualcomm’s recently announced Snapdragon 888 chipset had been chosen for more than 120 device designs.

Net income more than doubled year-on-year to $2.45 billion and revenue increased 62 per cent to $8.2 billion.

Sales for handsets increased 79 per cent to $4.2 billion; RF front-end grew 157 per cent to $1.1 billion; IoT was up 48 per cent to $1 billion; and automotive rose 44 per cent to $212 million.

Licensing revenue grew 18 per cent to $1.6 billion.

Qualcomm forecast revenue of between $7.2 billion and $8 billion for the current quarter.