Qualcomm has told investors it expects its new datacentre business to generate $15 billion in annual revenue by fiscal year 2029, a figure it is presenting as strong growth even though it remains modest compared with established rivals. The forecast came alongside third-quarter results that also warned of a sharp decline in revenue from modem sales to Apple, as the iPhone maker continues shifting to its own in-house modems, underscoring how Qualcomm is racing to diversify away from smartphones just as one of its biggest customers exits.

Qualcomm expects Apple's contribution to the next iPhone to fall well below its prior 20 percent estimate, with sales to Apple dropping below $2 billion next year. To offset this, the company is targeting $40 billion in annual non-smartphone revenue by 2029, including $10 billion from automotive and $14 billion from IoT devices, though its projected datacentre revenue still trails AMD and Intel's current $16 billion-plus hauls and is dwarfed by Nvidia's forecast $250 billion. Qualcomm also flagged likely price rises across its product range, blamed weak handset sales on high memory costs, and reported Q3 revenue of $9.95 billion (down 4 percent year-on-year) and net income of $2 billion (down 25 percent), sending its shares down about 5 percent in after-hours trading.