Qualcomm forecasts strong first quarter revenue on 5G phone sales growth

 

By Stephen Nellis and Munsif Vengattil

(Reuters) - Qualcomm Inc forecast fiscal first-quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates on Wednesday as it predicted sales of 5G smart phones would balloon to more than half a billion units next year, powered in part by new Apple Inc iPhone 12 models.

Qualcomm's shares were up 14% in extended trading.

The San Diego-based company is the biggest supplier of processors for smartphones and modem chips that connect phones to wireless data networks. It has invested heavily in developing lucrative 5G technology hoping to profit as it becomes mainstream in mobile phones, a trend poised to ramp up with the introduction of Apple's first 5G phones last month.

Revenue from the company's chip segment, its largest by sales, was $4.97 billion (£3.84 billion) in the fiscal fourth quarter, compared with FactSet estimates of $4.59 billion.

Qualcomm this year returned to being a major supplier for Apple, supplying chips that help the new iPhone 12 models connect to high-speed 5G networks. Apple did not give a forecast for its sales during the current quarter, making Qualcomm's chip sales one of the few proxies for investors to gauge the progress of the new iPhones.

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