QUALCOMM Incorporated (QCOM): Business Model Canvas [Dec-2025 Updated]

You're looking at QUALCOMM Incorporated's business model as of late 2025, and honestly, the story isn't just about phones anymore; it's a calculated pivot to becoming the intelligent-edge powerhouse. Having spent years in the seat analyzing these giants, I can tell you the foundation is rock solid: they poured about $9.042 billion into R&D last year, all while locking down key OEMs like Apple and Samsung, who each account for over 10% of the massive $37.87 billion QCT equipment sales. The real intrigue now is seeing how the record $12.8 billion in free cash flow is fueling the push into AI PCs and the automotive segment, which is already nearing $4 billion in revenue. Keep reading below to see the full nine-block canvas that maps out how QUALCOMM Incorporated is building its next decade.

QUALCOMM Incorporated (QCOM) - Canvas Business Model: Key Partnerships

You're looking at the core relationships that power QUALCOMM Incorporated's engine as of late 2025. These aren't just vendors; they are deep strategic ties that dictate product roadmaps and revenue stability. The company's total GAAP revenue for Fiscal Year 2025 hit $44.28 billion.

The handset segment remains central, though diversification is key. QCT Handsets revenue for the full Fiscal Year 2025 reached $27,793 million. While the prompt suggests major OEMs like Apple and Samsung each contributed over 10% of FY2025 revenue, the reported data emphasizes that total QCT non-Apple revenues grew 18% year-over-year for FY2025. Growth in Q4 FY2025 Handsets was specifically driven by premium Android strength, with revenue hitting $6,961 million.

The relationship with Xiaomi is cemented for the high-end mobile space. QUALCOMM Incorporated and Xiaomi Corporation extended their collaboration with a new multi-year agreement, building on a 15-year partnership. Under this deal, Xiaomi commits to using premium Snapdragon 8-series platforms for multiple product generations, with Xiaomi set to be one of the first to adopt the next-generation premium Snapdragon 8-series later in 2025.

Semiconductor manufacturing relies on external foundries to meet the massive demand for Snapdragon chips. QUALCOMM Incorporated uses a dual-foundry strategy to ensure supply and access leading-edge process technology. This is a critical area, as TSMC led the global foundry market with a 67.6 percent share in the first quarter of 2025, while Samsung's share was 7.7 percent. Intel Foundry Services is also on the roadmap, with expectations for a major customer like QUALCOMM Incorporated to use its upcoming 20A (2nm) process sometime in 2024-25.

The push into Automotive is gaining traction, exemplified by the BMW collaboration. The AI-enabled Snapdragon Ride Pilot Automated Driving System, co-developed with BMW Group, debuted in the all-new BMW iX3 on September 5, 2025. This system supports Level 2+ highway and urban navigation on autopilot (NOA) capabilities. The technology has been validated in 60 countries worldwide, with plans to expand to over 100 countries by 2026. This momentum contributed to QCT Automotive revenue hitting $1.05 billion in Q4 FY2025, with combined Automotive and IoT revenue growing 27% year-over-year for the full fiscal year.

To drive adoption of its PC chips, QUALCOMM Incorporated is aggressively scaling its commercial channel. The company is expanding its global channel roster to more than 100 partners in 2025, up from 40 partners in 12 regions the prior year. This effort supports the Snapdragon X processors, with more than 85 Snapdragon-based PCs available from OEMs as of May 2025.

Here's a quick look at the scale of some of these key relationships and market metrics:

Partnership Category	Key Partner/Metric	Associated 2025 Number/Value
Major Handset Platform	FY2025 QCT Handsets Revenue	$27,793 million
Major Handset Platform	FY2025 Total GAAP Revenue	$44.28 billion
Key Smartphone OEM	Xiaomi Agreement Term Extension	15-year collaboration
Foundry Manufacturing	TSMC Q1 2025 Market Share	67.6 percent
Foundry Manufacturing	Samsung Q1 2025 Market Share	7.7 percent
Automotive AD System	Snapdragon Ride Pilot Debut Date (BMW iX3)	September 5, 2025
Automotive AD System	Countries Validated for Ride Pilot	60
Automotive Segment Growth	FY2025 Combined Auto + IoT Revenue Growth (YoY)	27%
PC Channel Expansion	Target Global Channel Partners for 2025	More than 100
PC Channel Growth	Snapdragon-based PCs Available (May 2025)	More than 85

The automotive segment saw Q4 FY2025 revenue exceed $1 billion, marking a record quarter. The company's overall FY2025 non-GAAP revenue grew 13% to $44.14B. The growth in the PC channel is aggressive; the team quadrupled in size this year, and channel funding doubled to support the push past 100 partners.

The company is also actively growing its technology portfolio through acquisitions, such as the purchase of Autotalks in June 2025 for an undisclosed amount, specializing in vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications. Also, in April 2025, QUALCOMM Incorporated acquired Movian AI, the generative artificial intelligence unit of VinAI.

Finance: review the Q1 FY26 guidance for QTL segment revenue projection of $1.4B-$1.6B by end of next week.

QUALCOMM Incorporated (QCOM) - Canvas Business Model: Key Activities

You're looking at the core engine of QUALCOMM Incorporated (QCOM), the activities that actually generate the revenue and secure its future moat. It's not just about selling chips; it's about inventing the future of connectivity and intelligence, and then licensing the right to use that invention.

Research and Development (R&D)

The commitment to invention is clear in the financials. QUALCOMM Incorporated invested approximately $9.042 billion in Research and Development (R&D) for the fiscal year ending September 2025, which was an increase from the $8.893 billion spent in FY2024. This spending is crucial for maintaining leadership in wireless standards and advancing silicon capabilities. For the last five fiscal years, QCOM's R&D expenses have trended upward, peaking at that $9.042 billion mark in FY2025. This investment fuels the next-generation technologies that underpin their entire business structure.

Intellectual Property (IP) Licensing

Managing and enforcing the extensive patent portfolio through QTL (Technology Licensing) remains a high-margin activity. In the first quarter of fiscal 2025, QTL generated $1.535 billion in revenue, and in the third quarter of fiscal 2025, it brought in $1.318 billion. To be fair, the EBT margin for QTL in Q3 FY2025 was exceptionally high at 71%, demonstrating the leverage of this asset-light business. The total annual revenue for QUALCOMM Incorporated for the fiscal year ending September 28, 2025, reached $44.28 billion, a 13.66% increase year-over-year, with licensing being a foundational component of that total.

Here's a quick look at how the two main segments performed in Q3 FY2025:

Segment	Revenue ($B)	EBT ($B)	EBT Margin (%)
QCT (Chipsets)	$8.993	$2.671	30%
QTL (Licensing)	$1.318	$0.942	71%

Chipset Design

Developing the Snapdragon and Dragonwing platforms is the hardware backbone, powering everything from mobile to automotive. Snapdragon SoCs are designed to power embedded systems, including smartphones, laptops, and vehicles. The Dragonwing platform, for instance, is featured in development boards like the Arduino UNO Q, utilizing the Dragonwing QRB2210 microprocessor to enable machine vision via integrated AI and GPU acceleration. Diversification is key here; combined Automotive and IoT revenue growth for the full fiscal year 2025 was 27% year-over-year, showing traction outside the traditional handset market.

Key product families and their focus areas include:

• Snapdragon X Series: For Windows on Snapdragon PCs.
• Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5: Powers advanced mobile AI inference.
• Dragonwing QRB2210: Used in IoT and development platforms.
• Automotive Platforms: Driving digital cockpit experiences.

Edge AI Integration

Pushing generative AI capabilities onto devices-Edge AI-is a major focus, moving processing away from the cloud for better latency and privacy. QUALCOMM Incorporated is engineering chips to run sophisticated models locally. For example, on-device generative AI models running on a smartphone today can handle sizes ranging from 1 to 10 billion parameters, outperforming the original GPT-3 from 2022. Furthermore, announcements at CES 2025 indicated that their chips running generative AI models on-device can reduce power consumption by up to 40% compared to predecessors. This focus positions the company to capture a larger share of the burgeoning AI hardware market.

Strategic Acquisitions

The company actively integrates specialized teams to bolster its AI and V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) capabilities. In April 2025, QUALCOMM acquired Movian AI, which was the generative artificial intelligence unit from VinAI, specifically to enhance on-device AI for smartphones and vehicles. Just a month later, on June 5, 2025, the company acquired Autotalks, an Israeli company specializing in V2X communications, further solidifying its push into automotive technology. These moves are about integrating specialized talent and technology directly into the core product roadmap.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

QUALCOMM Incorporated (QCOM) - Canvas Business Model: Key Resources

You're looking at the core assets QUALCOMM Incorporated relies on to drive its business, which is a mix of deep intellectual property and high-value silicon development. Honestly, it's the foundation that lets them command premium pricing in licensing and chip sales.

The intellectual property is massive. QUALCOMM Incorporated owns patents critical to the 5G, 4G, CDMA2000, TD-SCDMA, and WCDMA mobile communications standards. As of May 2025, the company held a total of 326,461 patent documents globally, with 196,413 classified as Total Active Assets. More recently, by late 2025, QUALCOMM Incorporated held 29,746 active patent families, showing a 25% increase over the prior year, jumping from 23,829 families.

The Snapdragon platform is the engine for their chip business. For fiscal 2025, the company saw handset revenues jump 14% to $6.96 billion, driven by traction in premium Android handsets using the Snapdragon Elite Gen 5 platform. The Dragonwing platform, while less frequently cited in the latest reports, is part of the highly integrated SoC family. The automotive segment, powered by the Snapdragon Digital Chassis platform, hit a record high quarterly revenue of $1.05 billion, marking a 17% rise year-over-year.

The human capital is significant, supporting this complex R&D. QUALCOMM Incorporated had approximately 52,000 employees as of September 28, 2025. These specialized R&D teams are focused on areas like on-device Artificial Intelligence (AI) and high-performance, low-power computing.

Financially, the cash generation is a key resource for reinvestment and shareholder returns. QUALCOMM Incorporated generated record free cash flow of $12.834 billion for the full fiscal year 2025. This was supported by generating $14.01 billion of net cash from operating activities in fiscal 2025. Here's the quick math on that cash flow: Cash Flow from Operations was $14,012 Million and Capital Expenditure was approximately $1,192 Million for the trailing twelve months ending September 2025, resulting in the $12,820 Million Free Cash Flow figure reported.

Brand equity is evident in market positioning. The Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset remains the go-to platform for several premium handsets, serving as the exclusive System-on-Chip (SoC) for Samsung's Galaxy S25 line in early 2025. Still, in Q1 2025, MediaTek surpassed QUALCOMM Incorporated in global smartphone SoC shipments with a 36% share, while QUALCOMM Incorporated secured 28% market share.

You can see the scale of these key resources here:

Resource Category	Metric	Value (Latest Available Data)
Patent Portfolio	Total Global Patent Documents (May 2025)	326,461
Patent Portfolio	Active Patent Families (Late 2025)	29,746
Snapdragon Platforms	QCT Automotive Quarterly Revenue (Q4 FY25)	$1.05 billion
Snapdragon Platforms	QCT IoT Quarterly Revenue (Q4 FY25)	$1.81 billion
Engineering Talent	Number of Employees (Sept 2025)	circa 52,000
Cash Flow	Annual Free Cash Flow (Fiscal 2025)	$12.834 billion
Brand Equity	Smartphone SoC Market Share (Q1 2025)	28%

The focus on AI is clear in the technology distribution of their IP. While Wireless Communication Systems patents lead with 51,282, Machine Learning / AI patents stand at 6,712, and Automotive and IoT patents are at 5,934 as of May 2025.

The company's overall financial footprint in fiscal 2025 included Non-GAAP Revenues of $44.14 billion and GAAP Net Income of $5.54 billion. The licensing segment, QTL, brought in $1.41 billion in revenue in Q4 FY25, though its EBT margin declined to 72% from 74% year-over-year.

You should track the growth in the Snapdragon X2 platform for PCs, as this represents a direct challenge to the x86 architecture, which is a major strategic resource area for future growth. Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

QUALCOMM Incorporated (QCOM) - Canvas Business Model: Value Propositions

You're looking at the core value Qualcomm Incorporated delivers to its customers and the market as of late 2025. It's about more than just chips; it's about enabling the next generation of intelligent, connected experiences across multiple industries. Honestly, their strategy hinges on owning the platform layer for these shifts.

Intelligent Computing Everywhere: Delivering on-device AI and high-performance, low-power computing

This is where Qualcomm is pushing hard, especially with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for mobile and the X2 Elite series for PCs. They are making a clear play to be the platform of choice for on-device Artificial Intelligence (AI). The goal is to move complex processing off the cloud and onto the device itself for better privacy and responsiveness. You see this commitment reflected in the silicon specs.

Here's the quick math on the latest silicon performance:

• The Snapdragon X2 Elite Neural Processing Unit (NPU) delivers up to 80 TOPS (Tera Operations Per Second) of compute power for PCs.
• The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 NPU shows up to a 46% improved performance over its predecessor.
• The Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 Mobile Platform offers a 36% performance improvement versus the prior generation.
• Web browsing responsiveness on the 8 Gen 5 is up by 76%.
• For PC users, 93% of their time is now spent on native applications, with over 50 NPU-powered features available.

Wireless Technology Leadership: Pioneering 5G and next-generation wireless standards

Qualcomm Incorporated's foundation remains its deep intellectual property in wireless, owning patents critical to standards like 5G, 4G, and WCDMA. They aren't just resting on 5G, though; they are already pushing the envelope with their latest modem-RF systems. This leadership is what underpins their licensing revenue stream, QTL, which remains a high-margin business.

For instance, the Snapdragon X85 5G Modem-RF platform, which was introduced, is designed to deliver download speeds exceeding 10 Gbps, hitting up to 12.5 Gbps, with upload speeds of 3.7 Gbps. To give you context on the market they are driving, the global 5G chipset market was projected to be worth USD 43.87 billion in 2025.

Snapdragon Digital Chassis: Comprehensive platform for connected and autonomous vehicles

The automotive segment is the company's fastest-growing vertical, validating their diversification strategy away from being solely mobile-dependent. The Snapdragon Digital Chassis is the umbrella for their cockpit, connectivity, and ride/ADAS (Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems) solutions. Automakers are choosing this platform to simplify sourcing and own the end-to-end user experience, moving away from traditional fixed-feature boxes.

The financial results show this momentum clearly. Check out the automotive revenue growth across the fiscal year:

Fiscal QTR 2025	Automotive Revenue (Millions USD)	Year-over-Year Growth
Q1	$961	61%
Q2	$959	59%
Q3	$984	21%
Q4	$1,050 (Record High)	17%

For the full fiscal year 2025, the combined Automotive and IoT revenue growth reached 27% year-over-year. Furthermore, the company is executing on long-term design wins, with 29 commercial vehicle launches utilizing the Digital Chassis since the start of the fiscal year, supporting a target of $8 billion in automotive revenue by 2029.

Power Efficiency: Commitment to reducing power consumption by 10% annually in flagship chips

Power efficiency isn't just a feature; it's a stated corporate responsibility target and a key performance metric for their flagship silicon. The commitment was to reduce power consumption by 10% annually in flagship Snapdragon Mobile Platform products. We see evidence of this goal being met in the latest product announcements, which is defintely important for battery life.

For example, the Snapdragon X2 Series chips claim a more than 10% chipset power reduction across common day-to-day scenarios like web browsing and streaming. Also, architectural refinements, like the Adreno GPU's new High-performance Memory (HPM) acting as a fast cache, reduce memory bandwidth by 30%-40%, leading to a 10%-15% improvement in battery life specifically for gamers.

Complete System Solutions: Providing integrated chipsets, software, and RF front-end (RFFE)

Qualcomm Incorporated's value proposition is the integration of hardware and software into a complete stack, which is evident in their QCT (Qualcomm CDMA Technologies) segment performance. This segment, which includes chipsets, is the engine of their product revenue. For the full fiscal year 2025, total GAAP revenue reached $44.3 billion, with Non-GAAP revenue at $44.284 billion.

The QCT segment delivered record fiscal year revenues, with the latest reported quarterly revenue (Q4 FY25) hitting $11.270 billion. This is supported by the high-margin licensing business (QTL), which posted a Q4 FY25 revenue of $1.41 billion and maintained a strong EBT margin of 72%. The PC market is also a focus for this system solution approach, with over 85 Snapdragon X-powered PC designs in development, targeting $4 billion in PC revenue by 2029.

QUALCOMM Incorporated (QCOM) - Canvas Business Model: Customer Relationships

You're looking at how QUALCOMM Incorporated manages its relationships with the entities that buy its chips and pay for its patents as of late 2025. It's a dual-engine approach: selling silicon (QCT) and collecting recurring fees (QTL).

Strategic OEM Engagement: Deep, long-term technical collaboration with major customers like Samsung and Apple.

The relationship with top-tier Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) is foundational, especially for premium-tier smartphone platforms. QUALCOMM Incorporated's business model shows a clear concentration among its largest customers.

For the fiscal year ending September 28, 2025, revenues from Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi each comprised 10% or more of consolidated revenues. This level of reliance means these relationships are managed at the highest levels, involving deep technical collaboration on next-generation Snapdragon platforms, such as the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 mobile platform introduced in September 2025.

The QTL segment, which manages licensing, also saw key relationship milestones in FY2025. During the second quarter of fiscal 2025, QUALCOMM executed final agreements for new long-term licenses with two key Chinese OEMs whose initial terms had expired, and entered into comprehensive 4G and 5G license agreements with Transsion. Conversely, QTL revenues for FY2025 did not include royalties from Huawei, as that license agreement expired.

Dedicated Sales Teams: Direct sales and engineering support for large-volume customers (QCT).

The QCT segment relies on direct engagement to drive volume, particularly in premium Android handsets, automotive, and IoT. The success in handsets is directly tied to the volume of devices shipped using Snapdragon platforms.

For the full fiscal year 2025, QCT achieved record annual revenues of approximately $38.4 billion. The Handsets unit, a key area for direct OEM sales, posted Q4 FY25 revenue of $6.96 billion, showing a 14% year-over-year growth. The company is focused on maintaining this momentum, anticipating record QCT handset revenues with low teens percentage growth sequentially in Q1 FY26, driven by new flagship Android launches.

The diversification strategy is supported by dedicated teams focused on non-handset areas:

• Total QCT non-Apple fiscal year revenues grew 18% year-over-year in FY2025.
• Combined QCT Automotive and IoT fiscal year revenue growth reached 27% in FY2025.
• Automotive revenue for Q4 FY25 exceeded $1 billion.
• IoT revenue for Q4 FY25 was $1.81 billion, a 7% year-over-year increase.

Licensing Program Management: Legal and business teams managing the global QTL royalty structure.

The QTL segment is the high-margin engine, managed by legal and business teams ensuring compliance and collection across the global licensee base. The structure is primarily based on per-unit royalties from sales of OFDMA-based products.

The financial performance of this relationship management is starkly different from the product sales segment. For fiscal 2025, QTL EBT as a percentage of revenues was 72%, compared to QCT's EBT margin of 30% in Q4 FY25.

Here's a look at the QTL revenue performance across recent quarters in fiscal 2025:

Metric	Q1 FY2025	Q4 FY2025	FY2025 (Annual)
Licensing Revenues (in billions)	$1.5	$1.41	Approximately flat vs. FY2024
EBT Margin	75%	72%	72%

The company is guiding for Q1 FY26 QTL revenues in the range of $1.4 billion-$1.6 billion with EBT margins between 74%-78%.

Developer Ecosystem: Providing software tools and AI Hub for third-party developers.

Customer relationships extend to the software and application developers who build on QUALCOMM Incorporated's platforms, especially critical for the new AI-centric computing push. This is evident in the PC space with the Snapdragon X processors.

The Snapdragon X Elite features a Qualcomm Hexagon NPU delivering 45 TOPS (Trillions of Operations Per Second) of performance. The company is actively building out the ecosystem to support this hardware, which is designed to power Copilot+ PCs targeting the $600 price point.

The expansion of the Snapdragon ecosystem is quantified by the number of designs powered by the platforms:

• Snapdragon platforms powered 124 designs in handsets in Q3 2025.
• Snapdragon platforms powered 19 designs in XR devices in Q3 2025.

To enhance developer support, QUALCOMM has made strategic acquisitions, such as the agreement to acquire Alphawave Semi, a specialist in high-speed connectivity for AI and data infrastructure, with an enterprise value of approximately $2.4 billion.

Channel Partner Support: Doubling funding and expanding teams for the Snapdragon X PC channel.

To drive adoption of Snapdragon X Series in the PC market against Intel and AMD, QUALCOMM Incorporated has made significant, quantifiable investments in its channel relationships, moving from a direct-only model to a robust partner network.

In 2025, the company is doubling partner funding and quadrupling the size of its global commercial channel team. This effort aims to expand the partner roster to more than 100 global commercial channel partners in 2025, up from 40 partners in 12 regions the prior year, and just 13 partners in five regions before that. This investment is critical to the goal of making Snapdragon X-powered PCs available as low as $700 in 2025.

The engagement is translating into direct sales activities:

Channel partners executed more than 400 channel-led proofs of concept in the first two quarters of product availability for the Snapdragon X Series.

The company expects about 40-50% of unit sales in the PC market to come from the commercial segment by fiscal 2029, making these channel relationships super important to the goal of making $4 billion in revenue from PC processors by 2029.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

QUALCOMM Incorporated (QCOM) - Canvas Business Model: Channels

You're looking at how QUALCOMM Incorporated moves its silicon and intellectual property to the market, which is a dual-engine approach: selling chips (QCT) and collecting royalties (QTL). The scale of the QCT segment in fiscal 2025, generating $38.37 B in revenue, shows the sheer volume moving through these channels, representing 87.3% of the total revenue, while QTL brought in $5.58 B.

Direct Sales Force

The direct sales force is critical for the high-volume, high-value QCT segment, especially with major global Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). This channel is where the bulk of the $38.37 B QCT revenue originates.

The concentration of revenue here is notable; in fiscal 2025, revenues from Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi each comprised 10% or more of QUALCOMM Incorporated's consolidated revenues. This means direct engagement with these top-tier partners is paramount for handset chip sales, which saw Q4 FY25 revenue of $6.96 B. The Automotive segment, which posted Q4 FY25 revenue of $1.05 B, also relies heavily on direct sales to secure design wins for the Snapdragon Digital Chassis.

Technology Licensing (QTL)

The QTL channel is the high-margin, cash-generative side, collecting per-unit royalties based on the wholesale selling price of licensed products. This segment is less about direct product movement and more about IP enforcement and collection, evidenced by its strong Q4 FY25 EBT margin of 72%. The revenue scales as more devices, even those not using QUALCOMM Incorporated chips, incorporate cellular standards covered by the company's essential patents.

Global Distributors

For the smaller, more fragmented Internet of Things (IoT) and industrial customers, global distributors are the necessary conduit. While specific distributor revenue figures aren't broken out, the IoT segment within QCT is a significant channel, generating $1.81 B in Q4 FY25 revenue. QUALCOMM Incorporated's strategy here involves providing a broad portfolio, like the Dragonwing products, that can be customized and distributed through these established channels to address the highly fragmented IoT market.

Commercial Channel Partners

The push into the PC market with Snapdragon X processors has necessitated a rapid scaling of the commercial channel. This is a new, aggressive focus area for QUALCOMM Incorporated.

Here's a look at the channel expansion metrics for the Snapdragon X launch:

Metric	FY2024 End (Approx.)	FY2025 Target/Actual
Global Commercial Channel Partners	13 partners in 5 regions	Scaling to 100+ partners across all regions
Channel Campaigns Launched (June-Dec Last Year)	N/A	Over 36 campaigns
Business Customers Testing Snapdragon X PCs	N/A	Over 6,000
Total Commercial Customers Identified (Testing/Deploying)	N/A	14,000 unique customers
Consumer Channel Partners (Snapdragon X)	N/A	45 partners in 20 countries

The company is making a massive commitment to this channel, doubling partner funding and quadrupling the size of its global commercial channel team in 2025. The goal is to convert those 14,000 testing customers into large fleet deployments, supporting a long-term revenue target of $4 billion from PC processors by fiscal 2029.

The reach is secured by design wins across every volume Windows notebook maker, including:

• Acer
• Asus
• Dell Technologies (e.g., Latitude)
• HP (e.g., EliteBook)
• Lenovo (e.g., ThinkPad)
• Microsoft Surface
• Samsung (e.g., Galaxy Book4)

There are now more than 30 device models available globally from these enterprise brands.

Back-end Manufacturing

While QUALCOMM Incorporated is primarily fabless, its supply chain channels involve strategic, owned facilities for critical post-silicon processes. The company's subsidiary, Quanxun RF Technology (Wuxi) Co., Ltd. in China, is specifically focused on back-end packaging and testing. Furthermore, RF360 Holdings Singapore Pte. Ltd. takes wafer processing technology developed elsewhere and realizes mass production. Singapore also hosts a test centre of excellence for design verification and failure analysis.

The global revenue distribution reflects this channel strategy, with a substantial 97% of consolidated revenues in Q1 2025 originating from international customers and licensees, with China alone contributing 49%.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

QUALCOMM Incorporated (QCOM) - Canvas Business Model: Customer Segments

You're looking at the core buyers for QUALCOMM Incorporated's technology as of late 2025. It's a diverse group, moving well beyond just phones, which is key to their current financial narrative.

Mobile Handset OEMs: Primarily premium-tier Android device manufacturers.

This remains the largest customer group, though diversification efforts are clearly paying off. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, handset revenues hit $6.96 billion, marking a 14% year-over-year increase. This growth was specifically backed by solid traction in premium Android handsets powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 platform. For the full fiscal year 2025, QUALCOMM Incorporated's total QCT (Qualcomm CDMA Technologies) revenue reached $38.4 billion. It's important to note that a small number of customers, specifically Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi, each comprised 10% or more of consolidated revenues in fiscal 2025.

Automotive OEMs: Manufacturers adopting the Snapdragon Digital Chassis.

This segment is showing significant momentum, hitting a record high in the final quarter of fiscal 2025. Automotive revenues in Q4 FY2025 were in excess of $1 billion, specifically reported as a record high of $1.05 billion, a 17% rise year-over-year. For the entire fiscal year 2025, combined Automotive and IoT revenue growth was 27% year-over-year, with Automotive revenue growth specifically cited at 36% for the full year. The Snapdragon Digital Chassis platform is the engine here, bringing high-performance computing and connectivity to new vehicle launches.

IoT Device Makers: Across consumer (PCs, XR), industrial, and edge networking.

The Internet of Things (IoT) segment is another major growth driver, showing strong expansion in fiscal 2025. In Q4 FY2025, IoT revenues were $1.81 billion, up 7% year-over-year. This growth was fueled by solid demand for the Snapdragon AR1 chipset in the emerging AI smart glasses category. For the full fiscal year 2025, IoT revenue growth was 22% year-over-year.

Here's a quick look at the revenue contributions from the key growth areas in Q4 FY2025:

Customer Segment Focus	Latest Reported Quarterly Revenue (Q4 FY2025)	Year-over-Year Growth (Q4 FY2025)
Mobile Handset OEMs (Handsets)	$6.96 billion	14%
Automotive OEMs	$1.05 billion	17%
IoT Device Makers	$1.81 billion	7%

PC Manufacturers: OEMs adopting the Snapdragon X platform for AI PCs.

This is a newer, high-potential segment where QUALCOMM Incorporated is aggressively gaining ground against established competitors. As of late 2025, Snapdragon X chips were powering 10% of high-end Windows PCs in the United States (defined as devices priced above $800). This represents a significant jump from capturing only 0.8% of the entire PC market shortly after launch. QUALCOMM Incorporated has an ambitious target to capture 50% market share in the entire Windows PC market within five years. Over 80 PC models based on Snapdragon X chips were expected in 2025.

Network Infrastructure Providers: Utilizing connectivity and RFFE products.

While direct revenue figures for this specific customer group aren't broken out separately in the primary segment reporting, their needs are addressed within the broader QCT segment, which saw total non-Apple revenues grow 18% year-over-year in fiscal 2025. Growth in areas like Wi-Fi 7 access points and 5G fixed wireless solutions, which serve this infrastructure space, contributed to the overall IoT revenue strength.

The diversification strategy is clearly working; combined Automotive and IoT fiscal year revenues grew 36% and 22% year-over-year, respectively, for fiscal 2025.

• Fiscal 2025 total non-GAAP revenues for QUALCOMM Incorporated were $44 billion, up 13% year-over-year.
• QCT segment EBT margin was 30% in fiscal 2025, meeting the long-term target.
• Technology Licensing (QTL) revenues for fiscal 2025 were $5.58 billion, representing 12.7% of total revenue.
• QUALCOMM Incorporated generated $14.01 billion in net cash from operating activities in fiscal 2025.

QUALCOMM Incorporated (QCOM) - Canvas Business Model: Cost Structure

You're looking at the major outflows that keep QUALCOMM Incorporated running, the costs that directly offset the revenue from their chip sales and licensing deals. Honestly, for a company built on foundational IP, the cost structure is heavily weighted toward future innovation and defending the existing moat.

The most significant, recurring, and strategic cost is the investment in tomorrow's technology. This is a high fixed cost base, necessary to maintain technological leadership in wireless and computing.

Research and Development (R&D) Costs

QUALCOMM Incorporated's commitment to R&D is clear in the books. For the full fiscal year ending September 28, 2025, R&D expenses were substantial, reflecting ongoing work in AI, 5G Advanced, and automotive platforms.

Here are the key expense figures for the fiscal year 2025 (Year Ended September 28, 2025), based on GAAP reporting:

Cost Category	FY2025 Amount (in millions)	FY2025 Amount (in billions)
Research and Development (R&D)	$9,042	$9.042
Cost of Revenues (Cost of Equipment and Services)	$19,738	$19.738
Selling, General, and Administrative (SG&A)	$3,110	$3.110

The Cost of Revenues, which primarily covers wafer fabrication, assembly, and test costs for the QCT segment, represents the largest single expense category at $19,738 million for the full fiscal year 2025. This scales directly with chip volume.

Sales, General, and Administrative (SG&A)

SG&A expenses for fiscal 2025 totaled $3,110 million. This covers the necessary overhead, including marketing efforts to push new products like the Snapdragon X Elite Extreme CPU chip and channel expansion costs to support global sales.

Patent Litigation and Regulatory Expenses

While specific, recurring litigation expense figures aren't always broken out cleanly in the main statements, defending the QTL model is a constant cost driver. You saw a major event in late 2025 when QUALCOMM Incorporated achieved a complete victory over Arm in litigation challenging licensing agreements in September 2025, which validates the model but implies significant prior legal spend. Still, another separate lawsuit against Arm for breach of contract is ongoing, with an expected trial in March 2026.

These legal battles are not abstract; they are direct costs to protect the core revenue stream.

Non-Cash Tax Charge

A major, non-operational item hit the GAAP results in Q4 FY2025. This was a one-time, non-cash charge of $5.7 billion. This charge was established to create a valuation allowance against U.S. federal deferred tax assets due to new tax legislation, specifically the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

The impact of this charge was:

• Resulted in a GAAP net loss of $3.117 billion for Q4 Fiscal 2025.
• Equated to a loss of $2.89 per share on a GAAP basis for the quarter.
• Was excluded from Non-GAAP metrics, which showed a positive EPS of $3.00 for the quarter.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

QUALCOMM Incorporated (QCOM) - Canvas Business Model: Revenue Streams

You're looking at how QUALCOMM Incorporated actually brings in the money, which is really about two main engines: selling the hardware and collecting the licensing fees. For fiscal year 2025, the total GAAP revenue hit $44.3 billion. This revenue is split between the two primary reportable segments: QCT and QTL.

The Equipment and Services segment, known as QCT (Qualcomm CDMA Technologies), is the workhorse, generating record fiscal year revenues of $38.367 billion in FY2025, which represented about 87.3% of total revenue. The Technology Licensing segment, QTL, brought in $5.582 billion, making up the remaining 12.7% of the total.

Here's a look at the full-year 2025 revenue breakdown by segment:

Segment	FY2025 Revenue (in billions)	Percentage of Total Revenue
QCT (Equipment and Services)	$38.367	87.3%
QTL (Technology Licensing)	$5.582	12.7%

The QCT segment itself is disaggregated based on where the chipsets and platforms are sold. This is where you see the direct sales of their Snapdragon and Dragonwing platforms, modems, and RF front-end products. The growth in QCT for FY2025 was largely driven by higher handsets revenue, better average selling prices, and increased shipments from major OEMs for premium-tier Snapdragon platforms.

The revenue streams within QCT for the full fiscal year 2025 were:

• Equipment and Services (QCT): Sales of chipsets and platforms, totaling $38.367 billion in FY2025.
• Handsets Revenue: This is the largest QCT component, reaching $27.793 billion, up 12 percent year-over-year.
• IoT Revenue: Sales from consumer, industrial, and edge networking devices, which hit $5.423 billion, showing 22 percent growth.
• Automotive Revenue: This fast-growing segment reached $3.957 billion, marking a 36 percent increase from the prior year.

It's important to note the diversification success; the combined fiscal year Automotive and IoT revenue growth was 27% year-over-year. The Automotive segment specifically saw its revenue reach $3.957 billion.

The Technology Licensing (QTL) revenue stream is based on royalty payments on wireless IP, primarily from licensees' sales of 4G and 5G devices. For fiscal year 2025, QTL generated $5.582 billion. QTL EBT margin for the year was strong, reported at 71% in Q3 FY25, showing the high-margin nature of this business.

To be fair, the growth rates varied across the year; for instance, Q3 FY2025 showed Automotive revenue up 21% to $984 million and IoT up 24% to $1.681 billion, while the full-year figures show stronger overall growth. The full-year results confirm the strategic pivot: QCT non-Apple revenues grew 18% year-over-year.

You can see the full-year 2025 QCT components here:

QCT Revenue Stream	FY2025 Revenue (in millions)	Year-over-Year Growth
Handsets	$27,793	+12%
IoT	$5,423	+22%
Automotive	$3,957	+36%

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.