Even though supply issues continue to delay Snapdragon, Qualcomm CEO says the chipmaker isn't interested in running its own fab – at least not yet

Sarah Thomas, Director, Women in Comms

June 28, 2012

2 Min Read
Qualcomm to Remain Absolutely Fabless

SAN DIEGO -- Uplinq -- Qualcomm Inc. (Nasdaq: QCOM) is doing what it can to mitigate the supply issues that have delayed sales of devices that house its Snapdragon S4 chipset, but the slowdown may continue to affect the company through next year.

Speaking at the chipmaker's annual developer conference, CEO Paul Jacobs said the delays were due to 28-nanometer (nm) supply issues. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) produces the 28nm SoC (system on a chip) components for Qualcomm and others and fell behind on production after the chip giant underestimated demand for the popular smartphone processor.

TSMC claims the company could remain behind through 2013, but Jacobs said Qualcomm is doing what it can to ensure that doesn't happen. Now it works with several suppliers and is "looking at different business relationships to ensure the supply shortage we had doesn't happen again."

But, he said, it may continue to have reverberations through the end of the year.

"Customers also recognize that the next chips we have coming at the end of the year are great chips," Jacobs said in a press conference. "There may be some impact, but it won't be significant."

The admission prompted an audience member to ask why Qualcomm doesn't just own its own fab (the semiconductor factory where chips are fabricated).

Jacobs wasn't firm in his rejection of the idea, admitting that Qualcomm has the money to do so. But, he said, right now he likes the company's current fabless model.

"We have the core competencies inside to do it, but if we can continue to leverage the horizontal model fabless, we'll continue to do so," Jacobs said. "We like that model."

"We aren’t writing big checks," Jacobs added. "But, if in the future it took that, we'd weigh those issues. It's in a little of a state of flux, since we're still managing through the shortages right now. We don’t want to say no to anything right now."

Well, there was one thing Jacobs will say no to, actually. That's the idea of Qualcomm building its own mobile device. He gave an emphatic "no" when asked if he'd follow the likes of Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) into building their own tablets.

"There's definitely a big benefit to focusing on what you're good at and finding partners that can do what they're good at," the CEO said.

— Sarah Reedy, Senior Reporter, Light Reading Mobile

About the Author(s)

Sarah Thomas

Director, Women in Comms

Sarah Thomas's love affair with communications began in 2003 when she bought her first cellphone, a pink RAZR, which she duly "bedazzled" with the help of superglue and her dad.

She joined the editorial staff at Light Reading in 2010 and has been covering mobile technologies ever since. Sarah got her start covering telecom in 2007 at Telephony, later Connected Planet, may it rest in peace. Her non-telecom work experience includes a brief foray into public relations at Fleishman-Hillard (her cussin' upset the clients) and a hodge-podge of internships, including spells at Ingram's (Kansas City's business magazine), American Spa magazine (where she was Chief Hot-Tub Correspondent), and the tweens' quiz bible, QuizFest, in NYC.

As Editorial Operations Director, a role she took on in January 2015, Sarah is responsible for the day-to-day management of the non-news content elements on Light Reading.

Sarah received her Bachelor's in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She lives in Chicago with her 3DTV, her iPad and a drawer full of smartphone cords.

Away from the world of telecom journalism, Sarah likes to dabble in monster truck racing, becoming part of Team Bigfoot in 2009.

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