Qualcomm CEO Sets Two-Year Timeline for Robotics to Become Major Business
Physical AI progress underpins Qualcomm's Dragonwing bid to power robots across vendors.
Overview
- At Mobile World Congress, CEO Cristiano Amon said robotics should reach meaningful scale within two years and become a larger opportunity for Qualcomm.
- Qualcomm launched the Dragonwing processor in January 2026 to run across diverse robot platforms, targeting a Snapdragon-style standard for robotics.
- Amon tied the outlook to advances in physical AI that are making robots more useful for real-world tasks.
- The strategy faces heavy competition from Nvidia, Tesla, Unitree and multiple Chinese players, with robotics highly visible at MWC where Honor teased a humanoid robot.
- Long-range projections remain sizable — McKinsey sees $370 billion for general-purpose robots by 2040 and RBC pegs humanoids at $9 trillion by 2050 — as QCOM shares fell about 2.2% around the remarks and edged lower Wednesday.