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Qualcomm (QCOM) Boosts Foothold in Chip Market With NUVIA Buyout

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Few months after it announced its intent to buy the chip startup, Qualcomm Incorporated’s (QCOM - Free Report) unit, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., has acquired NUVIA for a stellar valuation of $1.4 billion (excluding working capital and other adjustments). Markedly, the deal is likely to uplift the San Diego, CA-based chip giant’s position in the global 5G chipset arena on the back of NUVIA’s expertise in high performance processors for compute-intensive devices and applications.

With Qualcomm trying to take its technological facet a notch higher with the incorporation of high-performance CPUs across flagship smartphones, infrastructure networking and extended reality solutions, the latest move is primarily aimed at catering to the growing demands of next-gen 5G computing in the dynamic tech industry. Following the news, shares of Qualcomm inched up 1.5% to close the trading session at $133.65 as of Mar 16.

Founded in 2019, NUVIA, is the creation of three Apple Inc. (AAPL - Free Report) engineers. This two-year old silicon design startup company mainly caters to U.S.-based clients and focuses on complex Systems on a Chip and advanced computing platforms that pave the way for technological innovations across multiple industries.

It specializes in next-gen custom CPUs based on the ARM architecture. As part of the transaction, Qualcomm will capitalize on these custom CPUs and integrate them in its multimedia accelerators, AI engine and mobile graphics processing unit for superior chip performance with improved power efficiency. Reportedly, Qualcomm is said to have been directly dependent on ARM, a leading technology provider of processor IP, to license its computing cores whereas NUVIA leverages ARM’s underlying architecture for custom core designs.

As a result, the acquisition will enable Qualcomm to curtail its reliance on ARM and minimize its licensing costs to create more differentiated and custom core designs in the long run. This will not only elevate its wide portfolio of products and solutions with superior CPU performance but also give a tough competition to its major rival Apple, by promoting better versions of ARM chips in the global market. The incorporation will help in strengthening Qualcomm’s prominent Snapdragon platforms while delivering major enhancements in CPU performance.

In fact, this game-changing deal is likely to benefit the second-largest semiconductor manufacturer by combining mobile and computing architectures to empower new-age customers with ingenious applications in the 5G-enabled networking market.

Markedly, these avant-garde CPUs, incorporated in the Snapdragon platforms, are anticipated to be available for specimen purpose in the second half of next year. These will be harnessed for use in cutting-edge ultraportable laptops.

Backed by such indigenous products and technology collaborations, Qualcomm is reportedly the only chipset vendor with 5G system level solutions spanning both sub-6 and millimeter wave bands and one of the largest radio frequency front end suppliers with design wins across all premium-tier smartphone customers. It is focused on helping customers experience seamless transition to superfast 5G networks with low-power resilient multi-gigabit connectivity. This is likely to offer the flexibility and scalability needed for broad and fast 5G adoption through accelerated commercialization by Original Equipment Manufacturers.

Qualcomm has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 19.1%. Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have soared 118.5% compared with the industry’s growth of 93.7% in the past year.



Some better-ranked stocks in the industry are Aviat Networks, Inc. (AVNW - Free Report) and Ubiquiti Inc. (UI - Free Report) , each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Aviat Networks delivered a trailing four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 61.7%, on average.

Ubiquiti has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 32.9%.

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