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By Stephen Nellis
(Reuters) -Qualcomm said on Tuesday it was "positive" on President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration and not concerned that proposed U.S. tariffs on China would dampen its business in the country from which it derives nearly half its revenue.
Qualcomm executives made the remarks at an investor event in New York during which the company forecast $22 billion in combined revenue over the next five years from laptops, cars and other products outside its current stronghold in smartphones, a sharp growth from its latest fiscal year.
During a question-and-answer session with analyst, Alex Rogers, who runs Qualcomm's technology licensing business, said the San Diego, California, company had a "great relationship" with Trump's previous administration, which blocked a hostile takeover bid for Qualcomm from rival Broadcom.
"We expect a good relationship going forward. We're very positive on the recent pick for Commerce Secretary, so we are expecting to have a good relationship and to be engaged as we have been through this past administration," Rogers said, referencing Trump's expected nomination of Howard Lutnick.
Responding to another analyst question, Qualcomm Chief Executive Cristiano Amon said he does not foresee problems competing for business in China, which accounted for 46% of Qualcomm's nearly $40 billion in revenue in its most recent fiscal year. Trump has proposed tariffs of 60% on Chinese imports, which economists have said China might respond to with tariffs of its own on American goods.
For now, Amon said Chinese firms are buying Qualcomm's automotive chips, and that the last round of Trump tariffs on Chinese goods did not hurt Qualcomm.
"As geopolitics started to become front and center in the U.S.-China conversation, the Qualcomm partnerships with China actually increased, as we expanded to other industries" beyond smartphones, Amon said.
Qualcomm shares were largely unchanged in after-hours trading after the comments.
Qualcomm has been burnt before by U.S.-China trade tensions. In 2018, it was forced to walk away from a $44 billion deal to buy NXP Semiconductors - which would have been the biggest chip takeover globally - after failing to secure Chinese regulatory approval.
In fiscal 2024 that ended Sept. 29, Qualcomm reported revenue totaling $8.32 billion from the same set of chip categories, which made up just a third of the $24.86 billion it made from smartphone chips.
Qualcomm is the world's top supplier of mobile phone chips that connect handsets to mobile data networks.