Qualcomm expects robotics to become a major revenue driver within the next two years, signaling a strategic shift for the semiconductor company as it seeks growth beyond smartphones.
Speaking at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, CEO Cristiano Amon said robotics would scale commercially by 2027 and evolve into a significant business segment by 2028. The comments accompanied Qualcomm’s broader push into “physical AI” – artificial intelligence systems designed to operate in real-world environments.
To support that ambition, Qualcomm introduced its Dragonwing processor earlier this year, a chip built specifically for robotics platforms.
From Snapdragon to Dragonwing
Qualcomm’s strategy mirrors its earlier success in mobile computing. Just as Snapdragon became a widely adopted processor family for smartphones, the company hopes Dragonwing can serve as a common computing platform across robotics manufacturers.
Dragonwing is designed to power a range of machines, from industrial automation systems and logistics robots to emerging humanoid platforms. By focusing on edge AI processing – where computation occurs directly on the robot rather than in the cloud – Qualcomm aims to enable real-time perception and decision-making.
Amon framed robotics as the next frontier for semiconductor growth, arguing that advances in physical AI have made robots more capable and commercially viable.
“Robotics will start to get scale within the next two years,” he said during an interview, describing the opportunity as larger than many investors currently assume.
Physical AI Expands the Robotics Market
The renewed optimism around robotics is closely tied to breakthroughs in AI models capable of interpreting vision, language, and motion in physical environments.
Unlike traditional industrial robots that follow fixed programming, newer systems incorporate machine learning models that adapt to changing conditions. These capabilities increase the range of tasks robots can perform, from warehouse automation to advanced humanoid applications.
Industry forecasts underscore the potential scale. Analysts estimate that general-purpose robotics could grow into a market worth hundreds of billions of dollars within the next two decades. Humanoid robots, still largely in prototype stages, are projected by some financial institutions to represent a multi-trillion-dollar opportunity by mid-century.
Currently, the global robotics sector is valued at roughly $67 billion and growing at double-digit annual rates, according to recent market data.
Competitive Pressures Intensify
Qualcomm is not alone in targeting robotics as a growth engine. Nvidia has positioned its own computing platforms as foundational infrastructure for AI-driven machines, while companies such as Tesla and several Chinese robotics startups are advancing humanoid robot development.
Qualcomm’s differentiation strategy centers on scalable silicon and edge processing efficiency. By embedding AI acceleration directly into robotics hardware, the company aims to reduce latency and dependency on cloud connectivity.
However, scaling robotics remains complex. Development costs for advanced AI models are high, supply chains for specialized components can be constrained, and commercialization timelines are often longer than anticipated.
Following Amon’s comments, Qualcomm shares dipped slightly during trading, reflecting broader market volatility rather than a fundamental shift in investor outlook.
Diversifying Beyond Smartphones
For Qualcomm, robotics represents part of a broader effort to diversify revenue streams beyond mobile handsets. The company has already expanded into automotive chips and IoT devices, areas that share similar requirements for embedded AI processing.
Robotics combines elements of all three: mobility, connectivity, and autonomous computation.
If Dragonwing gains traction across multiple robotics manufacturers, Qualcomm could position itself as a key supplier in the emerging physical AI ecosystem.
Whether robotics achieves the scale projected by Amon by 2028 remains to be seen. But the semiconductor industry’s growing focus on embodied AI suggests that the competition to supply the brains of next-generation robots is accelerating.
