Qualcomm Shares Surge 15% After Earnings Beat and $20 B Buyback Announcement

Context The chipmaker reported results for the quarter ending March 29, FY2026. Investors had been watching for signs that Qualcomm could offset slowing handset sales with growth in automotive, IoT and data‑center markets.

Key Facts - Adjusted earnings per share came in at $2.65, ahead of the $2.55 consensus. Revenue reached $10.6 billion, marginally above the $10.58 billion forecast. - The CDMA Technologies segment generated $9.08 billion, while handset revenue fell 13% to $6.02 billion. Automotive revenue rose 38% to a record $1.33 billion and IoT revenue grew 9% to $1.73 billion. - Licensing income increased 5% to $1.38 billion. - Shareholder returns this quarter totalled $3.7 billion, including $945 million in dividends and $2.8 billion spent on repurchasing 19 million shares. The company has now bought back $5.4 billion in the first half of FY2026 and added a fresh $20 billion authorization to the program. - CEO Cristiano Amon confirmed that Qualcomm’s first custom silicon for a major hyperscaler data‑center customer will ship later this calendar year, moving the data‑center effort from concept to commercial rollout. - A more cautious outlook for FY2026 Q3 projects adjusted EPS of $2.10‑$2.30 on revenue of $9.2‑$10 billion, below analyst expectations, citing memory‑supply constraints and pricing pressure on handset OEMs.

What It Means The earnings beat and sizable buyback signal confidence in cash flow despite a dip in handset sales. The $20 billion repurchase, on top of the $5.4 billion already executed, expands the total buyback to $25.4 billion for the fiscal year, a move that typically supports share price by reducing outstanding shares. The confirmed data‑center silicon shipment marks Qualcomm’s entry into a market dominated by established players such as Nvidia and AMD. Securing a hyperscaler customer suggests the company can leverage its 5G expertise to power AI‑driven workloads, potentially opening a new high‑margin revenue stream. Investors will watch the June 24 investor day for details on the data‑center roadmap and the physical AI initiatives that could shape future growth. The next earnings release will reveal whether the company can sustain momentum as handset demand stabilises and new silicon volumes ramp up.

*Watch for*: the June investor day briefing, Q3 earnings versus the lowered guidance, and the first data‑center silicon shipment timeline.