Qualcomm CEO sees robotics as a ‘larger opportunity’ within 2 years

BARCELONA, Spain — Robotics will become a “larger opportunity” for Qualcomm within the next two years, CEO Cristiano Amon told CNBC, as the chip giant continues its foray into areas beyond the smartphone.

In January, Qualcomm launched a robotics processor under the Dragonwing brand name, as it looks to create a chipset that can work on multiple robotics platforms. It’s a similar approach the company has taken to smartphones, where its Snapdragon processors have become a key chip used by electronics companies.

“I think robotics will start to get scale within the next two years,” Amon told CNBC on Monday, in response to a question about when robotics becomes a material business for Qualcomm.

“I think it’s going to become like a larger opportunity within two years,” he added during the interview at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

There are lots of different types of robots, from those focused on industrial applications such as robotic arms, through to humanoid robots, the type Tesla and a plethora of Chinese companies are developing.

There are various forecasts for the size of the robotics market. McKinsey projects the market for general-purpose robots could reach $370 billion by 2040, while analysts at RBC Capital Markets have forecast a global total addressable market for humanoids of $9 trillion by 2050.

Robots need processors and a lot of difficult engineering to move. But the increased bullishness around robotics has also come due to advances in AI models. These models are designed to power the robot so it can understand the world around it and act accordingly. Robots are often spoken about in a category called physical AI.

“People have said just robotics alone could be a trillion-dollar opportunity in terms of market size … the reality is, we see now, because of physical AI, robots have become a lot more useful,” Amon said.

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, said last year that robotics is one of the company’s major potential sources of growth.

Robotics is a key theme at Mobile World Congress, with different robots on display. On Sunday, Chinese smartphone player Honor teased its first humanoid robot.