Qualcomm (QCOM) CFO/COO Akash Palkhiwala joins The Watch List to discuss the company's outlook, the growth of its automotive business, and how connected vehicles are transforming transportation. He explains why cars are becoming "smartphones on wheels" and shares Qualcomm's vision for bringing advanced connectivity to the auto industry.
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What Akash Palkhiwala said
Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.
Akash Palkhiwala, CFO and COO of Qualcomm, discussed the company's quarterly results and growth strategy. He said Qualcomm is at an inflection point with growth opportunities in automotive, IoT, and data center, expecting revenue in those areas to grow by greater than 60% from 2026 to 2027. He described cars as becoming 'smartphones on wheels' and highlighted the expanded BMW partnership, noting automotive revenue grew 61% in the quarter with another 60% growth guided next quarter. He said growth in these areas will replace the entire Apple revenue stream within a year. Palkhiwala discussed 6G, saying it will happen by the end of the decade and enable AI across devices. He outlined data center targets of $5 billion revenue in 2027 and $15 billion in 2029, acknowledging lower margins in custom silicon engagements but calling them highly profitable. He forecast double-digit growth in the Android market for the September and December quarters. He also discussed the acquisition of AI software company Modular, founded by Chris Lattner, which will be licensed industry-wide.
Key takeaways
Automotive, IoT, and data center revenue expected to grow greater than 60% from 2026 to 2027.
Growth in automotive, IoT, and data center will replace the entire Apple revenue stream within one year.
Data center revenue targets are $5 billion in 2027 and $15 billion in 2029.
Automotive revenue grew 61% in the quarter, with another 60% growth guided next quarter.
Android market forecast to have double-digit growth in the September and December quarters.
Numbers and commitments
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What it refers to
Type
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60%
Expected revenue growth in automotive, IoT, and data center from 2026 to 2027
Time now to dive into Qualcomm's earnings report. We're happy to be joined by Akash Palkhiwala, CFO and COO of Qualcomm. Thank you so much for being with us. Glad to speak with you. We saw the quarterly numbers pretty much in line, but there's a lot of excitement in the non handset area when we think about chip sales. And you have some bold moves that you're making going forward. Tell me about the latest quarter. I know you had a successful investor day where you had the long term growth roadmap put out for folks. How are you feeling about the latest quarter?
Nicole. First of all, thanks for having me on the show. I think this is just an incredible point in time for Qualcomm. We are at this inflection point where we're seeing tremendous growth opportunities across automotive, IoT and data center. And so we're very excited about it. I think as we look at next year, from 26 to 27, we expect revenue in those areas to grow by greater than 60%. And we think it's just the beginning as the transformation of the company happens in conjunction with this adoption of AI, not just in data centers, but eventually in all edge devices. Qualcomm is going to be at the intersection of those massive trends and very well positioned to take advantage of it.
As you mentioned, automotive, you expanded your partnership with BMW, right? And we think about the non handset revenue that's expected from up to 2029. I saw a number of about 40 billion. Is BMW part of that story? Tell me about what drives that to get to those 2029 goals.
Yeah, for sure. I think what is happening in the automotive industry is, of course, the cars are transforming very significantly. They're becoming incredibly capable smartphones on wheels. And Qualcomm, we're bringing all of our technology to bear in cars. And what you saw with BMW is just an example of how major OEMs are partnering with Qualcomm. You know, as that industry becomes competitive and transforms, these OEMs are not just looking for a component supplier. They're looking for a technology partner who can help them with connectivity, with digital cockpit, with autonomous driving features. And Qualcomm has been the partner of choice now, not just for BMW, but a bunch of other OEMs globally in the US, in Europe and in Asia. And so we are looking forward to more of these partnerships. I think we're looking forward to helping the industry evolve. And of course, that shows up in incredible numbers for us. Our revenue in the quarter in automotive grew by 61%, and we're guiding another 60% growth next quarter. So excited about what we're doing. And I think we're at the front end of the curve for us there. And that will also help to offset a couple of things that are happening. The smartphone market that is weakened. Also, what's going on with Apple, Apple focusing on its own chip supply.
Yeah. I think what is going to happen is just the growth in the areas we outlined. Automotive, IoT and data center just in one year is going to replace the entire Apple revenue stream. So we're looking forward to our business. I think there are new areas of growth that will emerge. Robotics is an area we are tremendously excited about. Our leadership in automotive effectively leads into leadership in robotics as well. We think of robots as cars really standing up. And so we're using the same set of chips and same set of platforms and applying it to a whole new area that I think is going to be the next big wave of innovation in the world beyond data center. And so Qualcomm will be at the center of that transformation, and it's going to start in a couple of years and scale in a massive way. And we want to be the leading chip supplier for robots.
How about something else that's coming our way? 6G? I heard the CEO talking about six G in an interview. The timeline, in fact talking about next gen connectivity that will be higher speeds faster that we might even see this by 2028. Why do we need six G? And are you behind this?
We're very much behind it. I think this is an area we're very excited about. We've led 4G and 5G. And now that's going to six G is going to happen as well by the end of the decade. When you think about six G, think about the entire world and everything around us being interconnected wirelessly. And it's not just about phones, it's about wearable devices. It's about cars. It's about industrial devices. And all of these will be running AI on the edge, in the cloud. And all needs to happen very fast at very low latency. And the current networks won't be able to keep up with the demand. So six G is here just in time. It's going to enable AI to happen across all these devices. And we're just very happy to be the ones leading the transition.
Can we talk about the data center growth? I mean, the 15 billion the data center growth. I know 14 billion. The Internet of Things, the 10 billion for automotive. We went over automotive a little bit. But let's talk about data center. We think about AI. We think about the potential Agentic AI, Agentic modems is something that you've talked about. I know you made a recent acquisition. What's the outlook there?
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Palkhiwala, A. (2026, July 30). QCOM's Vision for the Future: Cars Become "Smartphones on Wheels" [Interview transcript]. Schwab Network. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1145725/
MLA
Akash Palkhiwala. "QCOM's Vision for the Future: Cars Become "Smartphones on Wheels"." Schwab Network, 30 Jul. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1145725/.
BibTeX
@misc{palkhiwala2026_1145725,
author = {Akash Palkhiwala},
title = {QCOM's Vision for the Future: Cars Become "Smartphones on Wheels"},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, Schwab Network. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2026},
month = {jul},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1145725/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
