Apple impact: Qualcomm revenue dips 5%, profit drops 89%

Qualcomm Q4 3G 4G shipmentsQualcomm said its revenue of $5.9 billion (–5 percent), operating income of $0.3 billion (–82 percent) and net income of $0.2 billion (–89 percent) in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017 – was impacted by Apple.

Apple’s and its contract manufacturers’ actions as well as a dispute with another licensee, who underpaid royalties due in the second quarter and did not report or pay royalties due later, negatively impacted revenue of Qualcomm.

“Our fourth quarter and fiscal 2017 results reflect continued product leadership and profitability improvement in our semiconductor business, including strength in adjacent opportunities outside mobile,” said Steve Mollenkopf, CEO of Qualcomm.
Qualcomm Q4 MSM chip shipmentsQualcomm is seeing strong growth trends for global 3G and 4G device shipments. Qualcomm said it’s leading the industry in 5G. Qualcomm is in the process of expanding  into product categories, such as automotive, mobile computing, networking and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Qualcomm posted revenue of $22.3 billion (–5 percent), operating income of $2.6 billion (–60 percent) and net income of $2.5 billion (–57 percent) in fiscal 2017.

Qualcomm’s spending in fiscal 2017 included $927 million charge for the fine imposed by the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) in the first quarter of fiscal 2017.

Qualcomm’s revenue in fiscal 2017 was impacted by $974 million reduction to revenues, related to the BlackBerry arbitration decision in the second quarter of fiscal 2017.

Qualcomm’s spending of $778 million for the fine imposed by the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission (TFTC) had also impacted its fiscal 2017 revenue.

Qualcomm indicated that the chip company’s $38 billion acquisition of NXP Semiconductors is likely to close in 2018.

Qualcomm is predicting a challenging first quarter. Qualcomm said its revenue in Q1 fiscal 2018 may increase by 5 percent or decrease by 8 percent. Qualcomm is projecting Q1 revenue of $5.5 billion to $6.3 billion against $6 billion in Q1 fiscal 2017.