Qualcomm raised its fiscal third-quarter guidance, citing strong worldwide demand for wireless broadband powered by 3G CDMA. But it also projects a modest sequential decrease in chipset shipments.
“Our increased guidance reflects stronger than expected demand for more data-capable chipsets and increased licensing revenues driven in part by advanced 3G network upgrades,” said Chairman and CEO Paul Jacobs in a statement.
While some chipset demand for developing markets has shifted to the fourth fiscal quarter and demand remains generally strong, the company remains cautious due to the current economic environment, according to a statement.
Revenues are now estimated to be $2.67 billion to $2.77 billion compared to prior guidance of $2.40 billion to $2.60 billion. CDMA-based Mobile Station Modem (MSM) shipments are estimated to be 94 million to 95 million units compared to prior guidance of 87 million to 92 million units.
The company said is not providing earnings per share guidance, due in part to market volatility.
Qualcomm is among the companies that have instituted wage freezes, and its top executives have taken pay cuts this year as an act of solidarity.
In a research note yesterday, UBS Research analysts remained cautious on Snapdragon take-up, citing users unfamiliar with the OS, but at a UBS conference this week, QCT President Steve Mollenkopf indicated there were no technical hurdles to porting Windows to ARM-based processors. “It remains to be seen whether [Microsoft] will port, though we would be more constructive on the Snapdragon opportunity if it did,” analyst Maynard Um stated. UBS reiterated its “Buy” rating on Qualcomm.