‘Connected personal computers, Metaverse applications set to overtake smartphones’ – The Hindu BusinessLine

Clipped from: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-others/tp-variety/connected-personal-computers-metaverse-applications-set-to-overtake-smartphones/article65185135.ece

Cristiano Amon, CEO, Qualcomm

Qualcomm sees clear indicators of massive business opportunities: CEO

Connected personal computers and Metaverse applications will overtake smartphones in the future, said Cristiano Amon, Chief Executive Officer of Qualcomm, at the Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2022.

“There are so many industries that are starting and so many that are being transformed; to give you an example, what we learnt from the pandemic is the role of productivity is changing, especially when we look at the need for innovators to work from anywhere….that is fundamentally changing our understanding of what a personal computer is,” said Amon. “The number one application on computers now is telecommunication, in terms of collaboration whether it be Microsoft Teams or Zooms,” he said.

For Amon, these are clear indicators of the massive business opportunity of technological innovations such as connected computers.

Regarding Metaverse, another topic that is taking the tech industry by storm, Amon said that Qualcomm is bullish on the opportunity, investing heavily in R&D.

“If I were to make a prediction, this (metaverse) could be as big as smartphones, especially the glasses that we all can wear in companion to the smartphone and eventually ….it could be a replacement of the smartphone that is a big opportunity” he said.

Chip shortage

Regarding lessons from the ongoing chip shortage, Amon said: “The first thing we all learned is that semiconductors are important, and it is a testimony about how important and essential semiconductors have become for the future of economies in every country and across every industry.

“The supply chain crisis brought a new sense of awareness and focus, which we applaud of building a resilient and geographically diverse supply chain.”

“The reality is that while the pandemic aggravated the supply chain issue…..we need to invest in a much larger capacity to manufacture semiconductors because digital transformation is real. Every single industry is being impacted; consumption of semiconductor opportunities has increased,” he said.