Qualcomm’s bets on 5G began to pay off in the company’s fiscal Q1 2020 (ended 29 December, 2019) in terms of boosting revenue, though the positive impact was not reflected in its profit for the quarter.

Revenue was up 5 per cent year-on-year to $5.1 billion, however net profit of $925 million was down 13 per cent. On an earnings call, Qualcomm CFO Akash Palkhiwala said revenue growth was driven by 5G, with a second “inflection point” around the technology expected in its fiscal Q4 (calendar Q3) due to the launch of additional flagship smartphones.

The revenue rise was driven by strong gains in Qualcomm’s licensing business, with 38 per cent growth in segment revenue to $1.4 billion more than offsetting a 3 per cent dip in chipset revenue to $3.6 billion.

Executives said the company signed more than 80 5G licence agreements, including contract extensions with “two key Chinese OEMs”.

Qualcomm president Cristiano Amon said 5G offers the company the opportunity to massively expand its RF frontend business, noting strong rates of adoption among customers using its Snapdragon platform: “This is going to become part of our core business…we expect uplift that we’ve seen on 5G in RF to continue going forward, especially as we go down the tiers”.

Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy, told Mobile World Live Qualcomm “is positioned for big 5G volume” as more handsets come to market, adding a “potentially five- to ten-times larger” opportunity awaits with massive IoT and automotive 5G on the horizon.