Qualcomm’s smartphone chip sales miss estimates, shares fall

Qualcomm on Wednesday fell short of Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter revenue from its smartphone chips on sluggish demand and declining Apple-related revenue, sending its shares down more than 4% in extended trading.

Demand for lucrative high-bandwidth storage for AI servers has pushed up memory chip prices, raising the cost of consumer electronics and squeezing smartphone processor designers such as Qualcomm.

Global smartphone shipments fell 20% in the September quarter to a 14-year low, according to Counterpoint Research.