New York, Feb 7, 2026, 19:35 EST — The market has closed.
- Qualcomm eked out a modest gain on Friday. Still, traders kept their attention on the ongoing memory-chip crunch that’s pressuring handset manufacturers.
- Qualcomm’s CFO unloaded a modest batch of shares, according to an SEC filing, with the sale executed through a prearranged trading plan.
- Up ahead: markets watch for signals on smartphone production plans, and if Apple shifts iPhone pricing.
Qualcomm ended Friday at $137.34, up 0.8%. The stock moved in a range from $135.31 to $139.13 during the session. As U.S. markets head into the weekend break, investors are left gauging the impact of a memory supply squeeze heading into Monday.
Smartphone makers are running up against a memory crunch, with AI data centers soaking up supply. Apple CEO Tim Cook noted the company has “different levers” to pull as memory costs climb. Over at Qualcomm, CFO Akash Palkhiwala flagged that some Chinese clients are slashing build forecasts. “It just seems like they are going to continue to get disproportionate share of the available DRAM,” said Melius Research’s Ben Reitzes during Qualcomm’s earnings call, pointing to Apple’s edge on buying dynamic random-access memory—the chips that keep phone apps humming. 1
Qualcomm now bakes the supply squeeze into its immediate forecast. For the fiscal second quarter, the chipmaker is looking at revenue between $10.2 billion and $11.0 billion, with adjusted diluted EPS projected in a $2.45 to $2.65 range. That outlook, the company noted, already factors in memory supply issues facing its handset customers. 2
Qualcomm posted its highest-ever quarterly revenue this week, coming in around $12.3 billion. GAAP earnings per share landed at $2.78, with adjusted EPS at $3.50. CEO Cristiano Amon flagged growing momentum in “personal, industrial and physical AI” but cautioned that industry-wide memory supply issues are weighing on the near-term handset outlook. 2
One more angle for traders watching insider moves: Akash Palkhiwala, who serves as Qualcomm’s EVP, CFO and COO, unloaded 3,333 shares on Feb. 6. These were spread across four trades, each priced between $136 and $139. The company’s filing noted the transactions were scheduled under a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan — the standard mechanism for pre-arranged executive sales. 3
The chip sector outpaced Qualcomm on Friday, with Nvidia, AMD, and Broadcom all rallying hard. The PHLX semiconductor index surged 5.7% after investors piled in, betting that cloud titans’ ramped-up AI budgets would land squarely on chipmakers’ books. 4
The push to expand AI is also playing havoc with handset supply. The Semiconductor Industry Association projects global chip sales will reach $1 trillion this year, pointing to memory prices shooting higher as the AI-fueled shortage bites. That’s a setup that can push up demand from data centers, even as it squeezes what’s left for consumer devices. 5
This trade isn’t a one-way bet. Should memory remain scarce and phone manufacturers cut output further, Qualcomm could see handset chip numbers fall—even if premium demand doesn’t budge. Apple bumping up prices, or sticking to its strategy to snag more share, could ripple through Android pricing and demand, but how that plays out is anyone’s guess.
Trading picks up again on Monday, and investors are zeroed in on DRAM pricing updates, hints on smartphone production targets, and whether analysts are still dialing down forecasts for the short term. But the bigger signal may come out of Barcelona at Mobile World Congress, running March 2–5, with new hardware reveals and supply-chain chatter likely to sharpen the smartphone picture. 6
