Qualcomm CEO highlights ties with TSMC, Taiwan ODMs at Computex

Taipei, May 19 (CNA) U.S. tech giant Qualcomm Inc. is strengthening its partnerships with TSMC and original design manufacturers (ODMs) in Taiwan as it expands its presence in the artificial intelligence (AI) computer market, CEO Cristiano Amon said Monday at Computex 2025 in Taipei.

"Historically we've always been a very big customer of TSMC, and we continue to be," Amon said during a media Q&A session at the annual exhibition focused on AIoT and startups, referring to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's largest contract chipmaker.

"For chip manufacturing, we're among the largest fabless [semiconductor designers]," he said, noting that Qualcomm, a leading provider of mobile and AI-enabled chipsets, ships about 40 billion components every year, with TSMC being the company's "primary manufacturing partner."

Amon, who has a background in electronic engineering, also said that Taiwan has always been "very, very strong" in the personal computer (PC) ecosystem, highlighting Qualcomm's growing ties with the country's PC sector, especially in collaboration with ODMs on new hardware designs and industrial applications.

ODMs are firms that design and build devices which are then sold under another company's brand -- a sector in which Taiwan plays a leading global role, with major players such as Quanta Computer and Compal Electronics.

Amon said Qualcomm's relationships with Taiwan's PC ecosystem are growing at "a very fast pace," adding that the company's team in Taiwan has always been active and is continuing to expand.

The remarks related to Taiwan came after Amon's keynote speech earlier in the day, in which he outlined Qualcomm's vision for AI PCs powered by the Snapdragon X series, the company's latest line of high-performance, AI-accelerated processors for Windows PCs.

Following the recent retail launch of laptops powered by the Snapdragon X series, Qualcomm has reached around 9 percent market share in the United States and the top five in European markets as of last quarter, Amon said.

"As new players entered the PC market, sometimes it took seven to nine years to get to about 10 percent (market) share," he said, adding that "we are very happy" to have reached that level so quickly.

In his keynote speech, Amon also invited top executives from major PC makers -- including Taiwan's ASUS, the United States' HP, and China's Lenovo -- to join him on stage, where each showcased new AI-powered laptops featuring Qualcomm chips under their respective brands.