Qualcomm Inc.’s legal victory in a high-stakes battle with the U.S. government raises the opportunity for the smartphone chip giant to enjoy a period of relative calm and growth propelled by rising appetite for new 5G handsets.
The company is emerging from what, by most corporate standards, has been an unusually tumultuous five-year period. It has faced antitrust allegations, legal battles with its biggest customers, U.S.-China trade tensions, an activist shareholder advocating for the company to split up and a $117 billion hostile takeover attempt. An appeals court’s decision Tuesday to vacate an antitrust ruling against the company resolved one of its last outstanding issues and sent shares close to a record high.
Rather than being damaged, the San Diego, Calif.-based company is emerging from the turmoil largely unscathed. It has also become a kind of national champion in the Trump administration’s competition with China over technology, particularly in superfast 5G networking.
The appellate ruling was “the last domino to fall” after five years of uncertainty and shareholder anxiety, said Stacy Rasgon, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein & Co. The company can now move forward from a more stable position, he said.
Qualcomm executives see the company, a leading supplier of the chips powering 5G equipment, as being poised to benefit from wider global uptake of the technology as well as new product launches like Apple Inc.’s first 5G iPhone, which is due before the end of the year. Last month, Qualcomm Chief Executive Steve Mollenkopf said the company expects sales of 5G handsets will likely come in at the high end of a projection of between 175 million to 225 million units this year.
The Link LonkAugust 12, 2020 at 05:00PM
https://ift.tt/3gPyFNp
Smartphone Chip Giant Qualcomm Seeks 5G Riches After Bruising Antitrust Battle - The Wall Street Journal
https://ift.tt/2RGyUAH
Chips
No comments:
Post a Comment