New York, Feb 3, 2026, 15:01 EST — Regular session
- Qualcomm shares dropped roughly 5% in afternoon trading, lagging behind the wider decline across chip stocks
- The company will release its quarterly results after the market closes on Wednesday, followed by a conference call.
- Investors also reacted to a new analyst note alongside news of a senior engineering executive’s departure
Qualcomm shares dropped roughly 5% to $144.94 during Tuesday afternoon trading.
The decline arrives just ahead of the chipmaker’s fiscal first-quarter earnings report, with a conference call planned for 1:45 p.m. Pacific time on Feb. 4.
Timing is crucial. Chip stocks and megacap tech firms have faced selling pressure amid a wider market slump, as investors rethink growth prospects and weigh the impact of emerging AI technologies.
Semiconductor shares slipped broadly, with the iShares Semiconductor ETF falling roughly 3.5%. Nvidia saw a sharper drop, down over 4% as of this update.
Cantor Fitzgerald bumped Qualcomm’s price target to $160 on Monday, maintaining an “Overweight” rating. But it cautioned that near-term guidance might fall short of consensus, pointing to weaker handset trends and shifts among customers. Investing.com
Separately, Qualcomm has parted ways with Gerard Williams, the ex-Nuvia leader who was key to pushing custom Arm-based CPUs. Williams announced on LinkedIn that his time with the company is over.
Anshel Sag, principal analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy, told CRN Williams’ exit “won’t be very meaningful,” describing it as “the culmination” of the Nuvia integration. CRN
On Tuesday, Qualcomm Technologies unveiled its Qualcomm AI Program for Innovators 2026 in the Asia-Pacific region. The initiative zeroes in on startups in Japan, Singapore, and South Korea working on “edge AI,” which means running AI tasks on devices rather than in remote data centers. PR Newswire
O.H. Kwon, president of Qualcomm APAC, said the program is designed to help startups develop “intelligent products with lower power consumption, higher efficiency, and enhanced privacy.” Qualcomm’s engineering VP, Sudeepto Roy, highlighted the backing on tools and IP protection. PR Newswire
Traders will be watching Qualcomm’s earnings closely to see if the company hits its previously set targets and how it views the March quarter. Back in November, Qualcomm projected fiscal first-quarter sales at a midpoint of $12.2 billion, with adjusted earnings of $3.40 per share.
Guidance risk works both ways. If handset demand cools once more, or if major clients push more aggressively for in-house components, it could drag down 2026 forecasts, even if this quarter holds up well.
Next on deck: Qualcomm reports earnings and guidance after Wednesday’s close, with its conference call slated for 4:45 p.m. ET.
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