Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon (pictured) revealed progress on several of the chipmaker’s key initiatives at the CES 2022 conference in Las Vegas, highlighting deals with mobile operators, device manufacturers and automakers.

Mobile computing, enabling the metaverse and connected vehicles, and wireless fibre were the key themes of Amon’s presentation. The executive said Qualcomm had progressed in these areas in the weeks since its 2021 Investor Day, when it outlined the opportunities.

More than 200 enterprise customers including Verizon and T-Mobile US are now testing or deploying Windows on mobile compute devices employing Qualcomm’s Snapdragon platform, Amon said. He claimed telecommunications is now the top use case for personal computers and said the migration of PCs to the Arm-based processors enabling mobility is “inevitable”.

Acer, ASUS, HP and Lenovo are all building computers using Snapdragon to connect to mobile networks, the executive said.

Automotive
Amon also announced alliances with several automakers. Renault Group will collaborate with Qualcomm to create new vehicle architectures; Volvo plans to enhance infotainment systems in electric cars; and Honda plans to use the third generation Snapdragon cockpit platform.

The CEO noted Qualcomm’s telematics, infotainment and in-car connectivity businesses now have an order pipeline of more than $13 billion, or more than a third of the company’s 2021 revenue.

Metaverse and mmWave
Amon revealed Qualcomm is developing a custom Snapdragon chip for AR and is working to develop compatible, lightweight glasses using Microsoft Mesh mixed reality software and Snapdragon Spaces.

Wireless fibre was a fourth theme Amon highlighted at CES: “5G, including mmWave, is a universal last mile technology”, he claimed.

Amon shared a statement from AT&T Communications CEO Jeff McElfresh, who said Qualcomm’s fixed wireless access (FWA) products are helping the operator use 5G for backhaul and direct broadband access.

Qualcomm’s chief stated its small cell 5G RAN chipsets and end user device platforms are enabling FWA for operators.