“We are the arms dealer that allows the car companies to keep up with Tesla.”
In the battle to make the car more software enabled, American chip maker Qualcomm is having absolutely no trouble selling its digital capability to car makers, chief financial officer Akash Palkhiwala told attendees of the company’s first automotive investor conference, held in New York in September. “We didn’t have to chase it. The industry came directly to us."
At the conference, top executives of the San Diego-based company, better known for its smartphone processors, interspaced its presentation with a series of videos recorded by some of the world’s most powerful automotive CEOs. Carlos Tavares of Stellantis, Oliver Zipse of BMW, Ola Källenius of Mercedes-Benz, Mary Barra of General Motors and Toshihiro Mibe of Honda all spoke warmly of their relationships with Qualcomm.
Traditionally, car companies are reluctant to flag up their relationships with suppliers, preferring that we think their model ranges are all their own work. That tradition has been chucked overboard when it comes to the tech companies, however, particularly for Qualcomm and its rivals Nvidia and Mobileye (a division of Intel).
This year we've seen a veritable flood of press releases from the likes of BMW, GM, Great Wall, Mercedes, Stellantis and others announcing that they will use elements of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon digital chassis.
Meanwhile, on Nvidia’s side, Jaguar Land Rover said it had signed a “multi-year” strategic partnership to jointly develop automated driving on Nvidia’s Drive platform, among other automotive announcements for the California-based tech giant.
It's not just the public show of affection that’s different. Companies like Qualcomm aren’t even tier-one suppliers - ie those that have a direct relationship with car companys. Their direct customer is the likes of Bosch, Continental or Harman, which integrate chips to run the infotainment system or modem. Instead, the car firm is going through the supplier layers directly to the company whose chip is powering all this new technology.
“You now see a senior level engagement,” Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon told the conference. “They have to make the right choice on the platform and then build on top of the platform. And that's very different than how the industry used to be.”
Add your comment