Qualcomm explores mobile, automotive and smart glasses with investment across verticals

India is very important market for Qualcomm and we want all our partners {OEMs} to get this message, said Savi Soin, SVP and President, Qualcomm India in an exclusive interaction with The Hindu, adding that the fabless company is going to invest a lot here on the business and R&D because a lot of people want Qualcomm products and it is a huge market with potential across mobile, automotive and smart glasses.

“We find a very capable semiconductor, software and hardware engineers in India. We’re going to be investing more heavily,” added Mr. Soin. Explaining the work culture at Qualcomm, he said that the company takes it very seriously about what the consumers are going to use in years to come.

“We don’t spend much time on marketing compared to engineering. We’re an engineering company. We have more engineers in India than anywhere else in the world, outside of San Diego,” Mr. Soin told.

Qualcomm is also geared for the upcoming India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2025, where it CEO is expected to deliver a keynote. Last year, it introduced its Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 processor for the affordable 5G phones under 10K. “We have almost more than 50% the size of the booth from last year.”

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“We are going to showcase stuff in automotive, drones and drone communication. You’ll see robots that we are working with both Indian customers and global customers. We’re going to showcase what we’re able to do on Qualcomm, with an Indian company.”

Qualcomm’s last quarter has been busy, said Mr. Soin adding, “We announced partnership with Lenskart for smart glasses. In next 12 months, you’ll see that particular segment explored in India. We’re very excited about what we are able to do with local partners.” Qualcomm is doubling down on automobile sector which it feels is a very important business for them. It is also working with the government on safety. “We’re working on a better cockpit experience. We are providing more localized ADAS experience.”

Mr. Soin said that communication is brand’s bread and butter. “Connecting Indian homes with a fixed wireless or fibre is very important to us and we continue to double down on it.”

Qualcomm says that their business in India is driven by mobile and fixed wireless, but PC is also seeing a lot of demand from the consumers. “We’re thinking, if we can bring mobile first experiences into the PC, and our partners can do some interesting products.”

The smart glasses is going to grow as well in India. “You’ll see very interesting devices like something you can talk to. You’ll see a lot of AI devices coming up. We had a lot of discussion going on with partners in India on that. Overall, I think next year looks very good for us, and you’ll see us doing a lot more,” concluded Mr. Soin.