Qualcomm CEO confirms plans to work with European foundries to boost chip production

Amidst the chip shortage that has hit the entire world, the EU is pushing for billions of dollars of investment to boost its share of global chip production and get relieved of its dependence on Asia. The world’s number 1 supplier of semiconductors in the smartphone industry – Qualcomm – is also keen on powering dashboards and infotainment systems of cars. Qualcomm’s CEO Cristiano Amon has confirmed that Qualcomm welcomes the idea of working with foundries in Europe if they are able to attract the right partners in the automobile industry in Europe.

The EU is attracting Foundries to mass-produce semiconductors in Europe, but there’s a debate underway as well about investing in high-end fabs for the automobile industry that Qualcomm is more interested in.

“There is a very constructive dialogue taking place, by the French government, the European government, I think they have an interest in attracting foundries to Europe,” CEO said in an interview.

Qualcomm’s production is aimed at leading-edge technology, and the majority of foundries for that are located in Taiwan, South Korea, and the United States but Amon has confirmed that Qualcomm fully supports the idea of the EU to attract foundries.

 Amon has also shown a clear intent of staying and dominating the automobile industry and says, “We’re in the automotive industry to stay”. The company CEO, ever since he took office, has been on a spree of meeting the CEOs of all major German automakers and has added 23 of the 26 global brands already including a deal with Renault and General Motors. “Today we have existing commercial relationships and future planned relationships with all the German automakers,” says Amon.

The company has done some extraordinary work in the last 1 year to expedite the manufacturing and build new facilities to counter the global chip shortage. With this pace, the CEO believes to leave the majority of the problems to be behind them as we enter 2022.

Related:

• Qualcomm partners with Google to bring infotainment system to Renault Mégane E-TECH Electric – Gizmochina
• Intel will now manufacture chips for Qualcomm; aims to lead foundry market by 2025 – Gizmochina
• Snapdragon 898 first Geekbench score confirms it indeed is a powerhouse (gizmochina.com)

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