Qualcomm Inc

Qualcomm (QCOM) now earns 16.6% of its revenues from South Korea.

In the past, analysts have named Broadcom (AVGO), Qualcomm (QCOM), and Texas Instruments (TXN) as potential bidders for Xilinx.

Intel’s IoT group revenues grew 19% year-over-year to $689 million in fiscal 3Q16, driven by strong demand from retail, video, and transportation.

In fiscal 3Q16, Intel (INTC) partnered with ARM Holdings (ARMH) to provide foundry services for ARM-based chips. Intel announced another foundry partnership with Spreadtrum, but it did not identify the products that would be manufactured.

Qualcomm earns revenue by selling mobile chips and by licensing its technology to other handset makers. Let’s first look at the core business of QCT.

Nvidia (NVDA) is currently in a strong position with little competition to its GPU technology. However, it is at risk of entering into a price war with AMD (AMD), which might affect NVDA’s margins.

Xilinx’s attractive margins and diversified customer base of industrial, automotive, data center, and IoT (Internet of Things) has attracted a lot of attention.

Qualcomm expects its core mobile chip business to grow at a CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) of around 8%–9% between 2015 and 2020.

Marvell, a supplier of silicon solutions for storage, cloud infrastructure, IoT connectivity, and multimedia, has been making news for all the wrong reasons.

Apple’s problems in China seem to have worsened in the last few weeks.

In his monthly investment outlook for June 2016, Bill Gross outlined that money managers who have decades of experience witnessed a “magnificent era.”

Several reports have been circulating in China that Apple may launch three models of its new flagship phone: iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, and iPhone 7 Pro/iPhone 7 Plus Premium.

NVIDIA (NVDA) reported a 7% year-over-year revenue growth in 2015, a time when the semiconductor industry revenues fell by 2.3% YoY. At its 2016 Investor Conference, NVIDIA’s executives highlighted the company’s growth opportunities in terms of geography and new technology.

Intel is expanding its product portfolio to offer a comprehensive solution to its cloud customers such as Microsoft (MSFT).

Qualcomm (QCOM) has stated that its total SAM (serviceable addressable market) is expected to grow from $23 billion in 2015 to about $100 billion in 2020.

Through its foundry business, Samsung provides chip manufacturing services to companies such as Qualcomm (QCOM), NVIDIA (NVDA), and Apple (AAPL).

The slowdown in smartphone sales has impacted the revenues of both Samsung and Apple. Both expect a significant slowdown in smartphone sales in fiscal 2016.

South Korea–based (EWY) Samsung (SSNLF) is making efforts to boost revenue and maintain a double-digit margin amid slowing smartphone sales.

Nvidia’s free cash flow to net income ratio indicates that it has a strong capital structure to withstand headwinds and bear significant capital expenditure.

AMD and Intel seem to have a duopoly in the PC processor and server market, with Intel accounting for more than 80% share in the PC processor space and a 99% share in the server space.

Nvidia’s cost of goods sold is around 40% of its revenue, whereas Advanced Micro Devices’ COGS is more than 65%. Intel’s (INTC) COGS is below 40%.

Any defects found in Nvidia’s products would incur significant costs. Greater risks would arise if a defect were found after commercial shipment had begun.

Nvidia’s revenue depends on design wins. The company maintains strong relationships with customers to assist them in defining their new products.

Nvidia is looking to diversify its revenue stream by targeting customers in the automotive market. In fiscal 3Q16, its revenue from automotive rose 52% YoY.

Consumer trends directly impact the semiconductor industry. For instance, consumers shifted from PC to mobile, negatively impacting Intel’s revenue.

Intel (INTC) completed its acquisition of Altera on December 28, 2015, for $16.7 billion. The Altera acquisition will make Intel the second largest semiconductor supplier after Texas Instruments.

Automotive semiconductor revenue has grown at a CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) of 8% between 2002 and 2012, according to McKinsey.

QCT is Qualcomm’s (QCOM) core business, generating close to 67% of revenues in fiscal 2015. But the capital-intensive nature of the business makes it less profitable.

China is looking to reduce its dependence on foreign technology. Its government plans to invest up to $161 billion over the next decade to promote domestic chip manufacturers.

In 1990, Japan led the semiconductor industry, with six companies named in the top ten semiconductor sales leaders. In 2014, only two companies made the list.

A fabless company only focuses on chip designing and a foundry focuses on manufacturing the chips designed by fabless firms.

According to IDC, YoY growth in worldwide semiconductor revenues should slow from 7.1% in 2014 to 3.6% in 2015. Semiconductor revenues are estimated to reach $389.4 billion in 2019.

In 2013, globally mobile internet user penetration was 73.4%. It will be more than 90% in 2017. Internet users had mobile internet usage on smartphones and tablets.

Qualcomm (QCOM) recently acquired Wilocity to boost its portfolio of mobile chipsets. Wilocity operates high-speed wireless technology WiGig, which works at a higher frequency and promises faster data speeds.

Consumer demand for the latest features and applications is huge. Endless technological innovation addresses that demand to a point, but has led to consistently shorter product life cycles.