According To Qualcomm's CEO, Apple Will Use Its Own Modems In Iphones By 2024

Based on the chief executive of Qualcomm - which currently produces Apple's 5G modem chips - Apple plans to produce its own 5G modem chips starting in 2024.

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“I don’t think we have any plans going forward for 2024, but my planning assumption is we won’t provide [Apple] with a modem in ’24, but that’s their decision to make,” Cristiano Amon told Trade Algo at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

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While Apple has been using Qualcomm modems in its most recent iPhone 14 models, it has been planning to go solo in the wireless connectivity market for some time now.

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It had been speculated that the company would start using in-house parts by this year after it bought Intel's modem business in 2019.

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During an interview with Trade Algo, Amon stated that Qualcomm had said back in 2021 that it did not expect to be supplying modems for the iPhone in 2023, but Apple then decided to continue to provide them.

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In addition, Amon did not confirm whether Apple will pay Qualcomm QTL license fees if it moves to its own modems in the future, but he stated that royalty payments are independent of providing a chip.

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Automobile semiconductors and low-power applications have been part of Qualcomm's diversification strategy.

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Amon also spoke about the U.S. lawsuit that British semiconductor firm Arm has filed against Qualcomm. A legal dispute between two of the world's biggest chip manufacturers has arisen at a time when Qualcomm is seeking to grow in the PC market; to do this, it acquired a company called Nuvia, which makes server chips that are based on the Arm architecture. 

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The chip designer claims Arm needs a license to use the designs, and as a result, Arm is seeking damages and a court order to compel Qualcomm to destroy certain information and hardware related to the purchase in order to obtain the license.

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“I think it's very unfortunate that we are facing this kind of litigation at the moment, but the reality is that we have very broad rights to the Arm IP, as we were one of their more early licensees," Amon said. “We feel pretty good about the solution and we're just putting the finishing touches on our plans at this point. The work we're doing in this area is very exciting to all of our customers.”

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According to a report by Trade Algo, the U.S. government is considering revoking export licenses for U.S. suppliers to Huawei, Amon stated: "We do have licenses to sell 4G chips to Huawei, and we have been doing so for several years.". "We’re being compliant through our license, but we have not yet seen any action taken against us."

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In this regard, he described the U.S. Chips and Science Act as a "great thing" since it had encouraged companies like TSMC and Samsung to build their own facilities in the country as a result.

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Qualcomm's license being revoked would result in a financial hit, he said, but he emphasized that the company was more diversified and was providing modems to Samsung and Honor and growing in the automotive and internet of things business.