Shares in American chipmaker Qualcomm (QCOM) were lower today despite unveiling a unique new PC security chip.
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Apple Rival
Qualcomm, which is one of the world’s biggest sellers of the chips at the heart of mobile phones, connecting them to wireless data networks, has recently branched out into the PC market. There it competes against tech rival Apple (AAPL) to sell energy-efficient chips for laptops and PCs running the Windows operating system.
It has now launched a new suite of chips for both PCs and phones, including the laptop chip Snapdragon X2 Elite. It will include a new feature called Guardian aimed at corporate buyers of desktops and laptops.
QCOM said it will start shipping the chip next year.
Kedar Kondap, senior vice president of gaming and compute at Qualcomm, said that the feature will allow corporate information technology departments to securely connect to the machines to install updates or provide tech support, even if the machine is turned off.
Unique Offer
Intel (INTC), which still has the majority of the market for corporate computers, has had similar features to help businesses manage fleets of PCs for more than a decade. But Qualcomm plans to pair its security features with its modem chips that connect to 5G and mobile networks.
That means that the corporate owner of a machine will be able to keep tabs on it nearly anywhere in the world with cell reception.
“Nobody else can offer something like that,” said Ben Bajarin, chief executive of technology consultancy Creative Strategies told Reuters. “I can actually see that being attractive for a portion of the workforce and something that will get stronger interest in Qualcomm for enterprise fleets.”
Qualcomm also unveiled the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme which it said is built for ultra-premium PCs, tackling agentic AI experiences, computationally intense data analytics, professional media editing and scientific research.
In addition, it said that its Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 has “upgraded the experiences that users today expect from their mobile devices.” This includes ‘lightning-fast’ multitasking and seamless app switching and long game play with ‘incredible performance and power efficiency.’
QCOM will be hoping for a boost to its equipment revenues, which as can be seen above, have struggled since the end of last year.
Is QCOM a Good Stock to Buy Now?
On TipRanks, QCOM has a Moderate Buy consensus based on 10 Buy, 6 Hold and 1 Sell ratings. Its highest price target is $225. QCOM stock’s consensus price target is $181.67, implying a 4.68% upside.
