Qualcomm CEO says AI agents will replace apps, builds 40 new devices

Qualcomm is developing more than 40 new AI-powered wearable devices as Chief Executive Officer Cristiano Amon predicts artificial intelligence agents will replace smartphone apps, reshaping a $500 billion app economy and the chipmaker's role within it.

"Those agents are going to be the new app," Amon said on CNBC's "The Tech Download" podcast.

The devices span jewelry, earbuds with cameras, wearable pins and watches — all designed to run AI agents locally on Qualcomm chips. Smart glasses shipments, now in the "order of multiple tens of millions" per year, could reach "hundreds of millions" in a couple of years, Amon said, rivaling the 1.26 billion smartphones shipped globally in 2025, according to Counterpoint Research.

The shift threatens the dominance of Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. in smartphones while opening the door for AI companies like OpenAI, which last year acquired the hardware startup io founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive, to enter consumer electronics. Qualcomm's entire chip roadmap is being upgraded to power these new form factors, Amon said, without disclosing specific process nodes or production timelines.

Why AI Companies Want Hardware

The motivation for non-traditional hardware companies to build devices goes beyond controlling the user interface. These gadgets will gather data on a scale that is "exponentially larger" than the data used to train current AI models, Amon said. That data is essential for training future models and creating personalized AI experiences for individual users.

Qualcomm's push comes as Intel Corp. prepares its Lunar Lake mobile platform, which features a neural processing unit exceeding 40 TOPS (trillions of operations per second) of AI compute and has secured more than 80 laptop designs from OEMs including Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo and Samsung. Intel's platform targets Microsoft's Copilot+ PC requirements, positioning it against Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite in the emerging AI PC category.

Investment Implications

Qualcomm shares, which trade on the Nasdaq, face a dual narrative: the smartphone market that generates the bulk of its revenue is mature, but the company is positioning itself as the silicon backbone for a new generation of AI wearables. If smart glasses alone reach "hundreds of millions" in annual shipments as Amon projects, the addressable market for Qualcomm's Snapdragon chips could expand significantly beyond the roughly 1.3 billion smartphone units shipped each year.

The competitive landscape is intensifying. Apple is developing its own in-house modem and chip designs, reducing reliance on Qualcomm. Meanwhile, MediaTek Inc. has been gaining share in the mid-range smartphone segment. Qualcomm's bet is that the AI-on-device trend creates a new category large enough to offset any share losses in its core business.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.