Qualcomm predicted 5G would drive a boom in sales in the current quarter and increased handset shipments across fiscal 2021, as it posted strong gains in profit and revenue in its fiscal Q4 2020 (covering 29 June to 27 September).

Profit skyrocketed from $506 million in the comparable period of 2019 to $2.9 billion and revenue increased 73 per cent to $8.3 billion, though Qualcomm noted these results included a $1.8 billion impact from a licensing deal with Huawei: without it, profit climbed 76 per cent to $1.7 billion and revenue 35 per cent to $6.5 billion.

For the first time, Qualcomm broke out product sales from its chip unit into four segments, posting $3 billion in Handsets; $926 million in IoT; $852 million RF Front-End (RFFE); and $188 million Automotive. Licensing revenue of $1.5 billion was up 30 per cent.

Moor Insights and Strategy principal analyst Patrick Moorhead noted on Twitter full-year fiscal 2020 segment results revealed Qualcomm had “one of the largest RFFE businesses in the industry” and a larger automotive business than chip rival Nvidia.

On an earnings call, Qualcomm CFO Akash Palkhiwala said it would continue reporting these numbers to “allow tracking of our progress for each of these categories as 5G expands our growth opportunity outside mobile”.

CEO Steve Mollenkopf added a ramp in 5G business was already “well underway”, with the technology “the single largest opportunity in our history, creating new opportunities to extend our leadership”.

Qualcomm forecast revenue of between $7.8 billion and $8.6 billion in the current quarter, compared with $5.1 billion in the comparable period of fiscal 2020.

Palkhiwala said it expects 450 million to 550 million 5G handset shipments in calendar 2021, compared with 175 million to 220 million in 2020.