✦ Automotive: The One That Is WorkingWide moat

Qualcomm (QCOM) — the future bets

The bet that is already working, because it is the one where the customer's requirement most resembled a phone.

Automotive is the bet that is already working, and it is working for a reason that says something about the rest.

Automotive revenue ($m)$1,872mFY2023$2,910mFY2024$3,957mFY2025$984mQ3 FY2025$1,588mQ3 FY2026Qualcomm Form 10-K FY2025 and Qualcomm Form 10-Q, Q3 fiscal 2026
More than doubled in two years, and up 61% in the latest quarter.

Revenue went from $1,872 million in fiscal 2023 to $2,910 million in 2024 to $3,957 million in 2025, and rose 61% year over year to $1,588 million in the June 2026 quarter — a quarter in which Qualcomm's total revenue fell.12 More than doubled in two years, accelerating.

The reason is that Qualcomm is not entering a new business here so much as following its existing one into a different device. A car needs cellular connectivity, a digital cockpit with graphics and applications, and increasingly the compute for driver assistance. Two of those three are what Qualcomm already made for phones, and the third borrows the same CPU and signal-processing work.

The design cycle is the other half. Automotive selections run five to seven years to production with functional-safety qualification and long part-availability commitments, so revenue arriving now was won years ago and revenue arriving in 2029 is being won now.3 It cannot be accelerated to plug this year's hole, and it also cannot easily be taken away.

The competition is real: Nvidia's Drive platform owns the AI narrative and Mobileye the driver-assistance incumbency.

Watch the automotive design-win pipeline rather than the revenue line. The revenue describes 2021's decisions.

Moat trajectory: Widening

From $1,872m in fiscal 2023 to $3,957m in 2025 to a 61% year-over-year quarter — accelerating, on wins that were booked before any of this was urgent.

The number that tests this moat
Reported
Automotive growth
+61% year over year, to $1,588M

In a quarter when total revenue fell. Automotive went from $1,872M in fiscal 2023 to $3,957M in 2025 on design cycles running five to seven years, which means revenue arriving now was won years ago and revenue arriving in 2029 is being won now. It is the one bet in this section already delivering.

Source: Qualcomm Form 10-Q, quarter ended 28 June 2026 ↗
References
  1. ReportedRevenue went from $1,872 million in fiscal 2023 to $2,910 million in 2024 to $3,957 million in 2025, and rose 61% year over year to $1,588 million in the June 2026 quarter — a quarter in which Qualcomm's total revenue fell.
    Qualcomm Incorporated, Form 10-K FY2025 — Item 7, Management's Discussion and Analysis, and the reportable-segment note. QCT revenues $38,367M (2024 $33,196M, 2023 $30,382M) with EBT of $11,670M ($9,527M, $7,924M) at 30% of revenues (29%, 26%); QCT revenue streams handsets $27,793M ($24,863M, $22,570M), automotive $3,957M ($2,910M, $1,872M) and IoT $6,617M ($5,423M, $5,940M). QTL revenues $5,582M ($5,572M, $5,306M) against total costs and expenses of $1,539M ($1,545M, $1,678M), for EBT of $4,043M ($4,027M, $3,628M) — 72% of revenues in each of the three years. Reportable-segment revenues $43,949M, $38,786M and $35,716M against consolidated revenues of $44,284M, $38,962M and $35,820M. During the second quarter of fiscal 2025 Qualcomm executed final agreements for new long-term licensing arrangements. — FY2025 · publ. 2025-11-05 · source ↗
  2. ReportedRevenue went from $1,872 million in fiscal 2023 to $2,910 million in 2024 to $3,957 million in 2025, and rose 61% year over year to $1,588 million in the June 2026 quarter — a quarter in which Qualcomm's total revenue fell.
    Qualcomm Incorporated, Form 10-K FY2025 — Item 7, Management's Discussion and Analysis, and the reportable-segment note. QCT revenues $38,367M (2024 $33,196M, 2023 $30,382M) with EBT of $11,670M ($9,527M, $7,924M) at 30% of revenues (29%, 26%); QCT revenue streams handsets $27,793M ($24,863M, $22,570M), automotive $3,957M ($2,910M, $1,872M) and IoT $6,617M ($5,423M, $5,940M). QTL revenues $5,582M ($5,572M, $5,306M) against total costs and expenses of $1,539M ($1,545M, $1,678M), for EBT of $4,043M ($4,027M, $3,628M) — 72% of revenues in each of the three years. Reportable-segment revenues $43,949M, $38,786M and $35,716M against consolidated revenues of $44,284M, $38,962M and $35,820M. During the second quarter of fiscal 2025 Qualcomm executed final agreements for new long-term licensing arrangements. — FY2025 · publ. 2025-11-05 · source ↗
  3. ReportedAutomotive selections run five to seven years to production with functional-safety qualification and long part-availability commitments, so revenue arriving now was won years ago and revenue arriving in 2029 is being won now.
    Qualcomm Incorporated, Form 10-K FY2025 — Item 7, Management's Discussion and Analysis, and the reportable-segment note. QCT revenues $38,367M (2024 $33,196M, 2023 $30,382M) with EBT of $11,670M ($9,527M, $7,924M) at 30% of revenues (29%, 26%); QCT revenue streams handsets $27,793M ($24,863M, $22,570M), automotive $3,957M ($2,910M, $1,872M) and IoT $6,617M ($5,423M, $5,940M). QTL revenues $5,582M ($5,572M, $5,306M) against total costs and expenses of $1,539M ($1,545M, $1,678M), for EBT of $4,043M ($4,027M, $3,628M) — 72% of revenues in each of the three years. Reportable-segment revenues $43,949M, $38,786M and $35,716M against consolidated revenues of $44,284M, $38,962M and $35,820M. During the second quarter of fiscal 2025 Qualcomm executed final agreements for new long-term licensing arrangements. — FY2025 · publ. 2025-11-05 · source ↗
Sources
Generated September 23, 2026