Qualcomm’s CEO on the coming AI phone supercycle

@cristianoamon on the China vs. US AI sentiment, how AI is changing smartphones and wearables, Qualcomm’s data center strategy, and 6G.

We discuss why he thinks phones aren’t going away, how agents will use our personal context, and why he expects smart glasses to become the biggest category of AI wearables. We also cover differences in consumer AI adoption between China and the US, Qualcomm’s acquisition of Modular to offer developers an alternative to Nvidia’s software, and what 6G could change about the devices we use.

This conversation was recorded live at Qualcomm’s recent Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii.

Timestamps:
00:18 How China and the US see AI
04:33 Should AI development slow down?
07:25 Trump, China, and chip geopolitics
08:25 Why the smartphone market is shrinking
11:15 Memory prices and pent-up demand
13:15 Can cloud agents replace the phone?
18:30 What is an AI smartphone?
25:05 The state of VR and smart glasses
29:30 Is there an iPod moment for wearables?
30:45 Why Qualcomm is building data centers
34:45 Modular and the fight against CUDA lock-in
39:05 What 5G actually changed
42:00 Why 6G is built for AI
45:05 When 6G arrives

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3fTPoH4PNPQ1mbBtiLWOzH?si=A2NcJO44Qd-SntR2U6qK3g
YouTube: https://youtu.be/FcYL3h5bwlk
Substack: https://sources.news/p/qualcomm-ceo-ai-phone
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/qualcomms-ceo-on-the-coming-ai-phone-supercycle/id1840154537?i=1000793916120

Thanks to the show’s premiere sponsors: @Atlassian, @meetgranola, and @mercury.