Moat Index
Companies· Semis

QualcommQCOM

Moat score

A patent-licensing moat with an expiry date, as its largest customer builds its own modem.

MOATE2.8Solid
2.8 Solid
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DimensionMOATECommunity
Switching costsweight 15Modem and platform integration is sticky for Android OEMs; Apple has shown it can be undone.6
Network effectsweight 15Little; OEM relationships do not compound.4
Scale & cost advantageweight 12Leading scale in mobile silicon and RF.7
Brand & pricing powerweight 12Premium Snapdragon pricing holds in Android; licensing terms are set by patents, not preference.6
Cornered resourceweight 12One of the deepest wireless patent portfolios in existence; QTL is the cash engine.8
Distribution controlweight 12Design wins across Android OEMs; no owned surface.6
Disruption resilienceweight 12Apple’s in-house modem, Huawei’s independence, and the Arm dispute all erode the core at once.4
Independenceweight 10Regulators on three continents have challenged the licensing model; China is a large share of revenue.4

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How strong is Qualcomm's moat?

Question 1 of 8

Switching costs

Switching costs · weight 15

How painful — in money, time, risk, retraining — is it for a customer to leave?

5