Qualcomm CEO hints at future high-power PC chips

Qualcomm (QCOM) came to CES 2025 staking its position as a major player in the PC market, and proved it’s on that path with the release of its latest Snapdragon X chips. Snapdragon X is available in midrange laptops priced around $600 and is designed to help consumers run on-device AI applications and features without breaking the bank.

But the company isn’t content just competing with the likes of AMD (AMD) and Intel (INTC) in the laptop space. We also launched new mini-desktop computers for consumer and business customers with our partner Lenovo.

And in an interview with Yahoo Finance, CEO Cristiano Amon hinted that the semiconductor giant will take further steps in the coming months.

“We want to build a portfolio with Copilot+ PCs that spans all price points,” Amon said outside Qualcomm’s booth on the CES showroom floor in Las Vegas. “We’re not stopping here. We’re just starting with (its) product portfolio.”

In particular, Qualcomm is looking to expand into the high-performance PC graphics market, which would put the company in direct competition with giant Nvidia (NVDA), Amon said.

Qualcomm is not new to the PC space. The company previously tried to enter the market with chips designed for Windows 10 laptops, but that effort failed to gain traction due to compatibility issues with Windows apps.

However, things are different this time. Reviews of laptops powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus chips are generally positive, with reviewers pointing to impressive performance and long-lasting batteries not found in AMD- or Intel-powered systems.

Qualcomm is also working with Microsoft (MSFT) to ensure that apps designed to run on AMD and Intel chips can also work on Qualcomm chips. So far, both companies have fulfilled this task well. In my own testing, Microsoft’s Snapdragon-powered Surface Laptop offered excellent battery life, plenty of performance capability, and I didn’t encounter any app compatibility issues.

However, when it comes to games, it’s a different story. Gamers need serious processing and graphics power, and while the Snapdragon X Elite is a powerful chip, gamers, especially desktop gamers, will likely be looking for a dedicated graphics chip to run their favorite titles.

It’s unclear whether Qualcomm is even looking to enter that particular space. Amon could simply mean that the company is working on a chip with a more powerful integrated graphics chip built into its Snapdragon processor series.

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But Tom’s Hardware says that if it wants to enter the dedicated graphics space, it will have to team up with Nvidia, which controls a staggering 88% of the desktop graphics space alone.

If taking on Nvidia isn’t enough, Qualcomm’s entire PC effort relies on taking market share from AMD and Intel, which is a difficult task. According to Mercury Research via Tom’s Hardware, Intel still controls about 76% of the PC market, but the company’s recent struggles related to a major restructuring effort, including the firing of CEO Pat Gelsinger, have pushed Qualcomm to It has an opportunity to take market share away from the PC market. Chip Behemoth.

AMD isn’t resting on its laurels either. The company is similarly aiming to capture greater market share from its biggest rivals, and is doing so by relying heavily on AI PCs and gaming.

Amon said Qualcomm’s growth has little to do with its competitors’ struggles and everything to do with its own efforts.

“The incredible traction you’re seeing now is simply because we’re developing a platform that is extremely competitive, regardless of what our competitors were doing.” Amon said.

“It’s just the beginning. We will continue to develop our product roadmap and push the boundaries of performance and battery life with each generation,” he added.

Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow @DanielHowley on Twitter.

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