Qualcomm 1Q Sales Rise, But Memory Shortage Dents Outlook — Update

By Katherine Hamilton

Qualcomm logged higher revenue in its fiscal first quarter, but said the memory-supply shortage will put a damper on its performance in the current quarter.

The semiconductor company on Wednesday posted a profit of $3 billion, or $2.78 a share, in the fiscal first quarter, compared with $3.18 billion, or $2.83 a share, a year earlier.

Stripping out certain one-time items, adjusted per-share earnings were $3.50, ahead of the $3.39 anticipated by analysts, according to FactSet.

Revenue rose 5% to $12.25 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet forecast revenue of $12.13 billion.

"Our momentum across personal, industrial and physical AI is growing," Chief Executive Cristiano Amon said.

In the second quarter, Qualcomm expects revenue to be $10.2 billion to $11 billion, below the $11.11 billion expected by analysts. The company guided for adjusted earnings per share of $2.45 to $2.65, also missing Wall Street's estimates of $2.90.

Amon said the near-term outlook is being weighed down by an industry-wide shortage of memory supply.

In the first quarter, demand for Qualcomm-powered handset devices exceeded management's expectations, but that could soon change, Amon said. Qualcomm's handset business sells processors that are used in smartphones.

Suppliers will likely continue to redirect manufacturing capacity to meet demand from artificial intelligence data centers, which will put a strain on the availability and pricing of memory for handsets, he said.

Handset manufacturers, especially in China, are reducing their plans to build handsets in an effort to brace for the potential memory shortage, he said.

"The resulting industry-wide memory shortage and price increases are likely to define the overall scale of the handset industry through the fiscal year," Amon told investors.

Shares fell 9% to $135.47 in after-hours trading. Through the close, shares were down 17% over the past three months.

Write to Katherine Hamilton at katherine.hamilton@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 04, 2026 17:55 ET (22:55 GMT)