Qualcomm Getting All The 28nm Parts It Can Sell

This time last year, Jacobs complained that constrained supplies of 28nm parts from TSMC were limiting Qualcomm’s sales. Jacobs said back then he’d be looking for new foundry sources at UMC, Globalfoundries and Samsung.

“We’re starting to bring on multiple fabs with more gusto now,” says Qualcomm president Steve Mollenkopf adding that all the 28nm backlog of orders was shipped in Q4.

Qualcomm had Q4 revenues topping $6bn – a 29% rise over Q4 2011. Operating profit was 31% up at $2.45bn. Net profit was $1.9bn.

The company is looking to 2013 revenues of $23-24bn – up 25% on 2012. For the current quarter it expects to see revenue of $5.8-6.3bn –  up 22% on calendar Q1 2012.

Qualcomm’s R&D budget is relatively long-focussed – 27% of its R&D budget is going into projects that are not expected to earn revenue this year.