QCOM Expands Portfolio for Industrial PCs: Will It Boost Prospects?

Qualcomm Incorporated QCOM recently introduced a leading-edge industrial-grade processor, the Qualcomm Dragonwing IQ-X Series, to support smart manufacturing by enhancing industrial PCs.

Built upon Qualcomm Oryon CPU, the solution is designed for the rugged and harsh environment of an industrial setup. It offers up to 45 TOPS of AI performance with scalable configurations from 8 to 12 high-performance cores that can operate in a temperature range between negative 40°C and 105°C.

Qualcomm’s first industrial-grade PC processor offers compatibility with standard hardware systems and bridge chips used in the industry. It also supports a broad array of industry-leading software and applications on Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC. The flexible architecture allows for swift customization and scalability as per varied requirements. It also eliminates the need for external AI or multimedia modules, reducing the bill of materials and simplifying the design of rugged systems.

Such innovative features make it an ideal choice for OEMs looking for highly configurable, high-performance platforms for factory automation, robotics and intelligent edge systems. The company has already witnessed solid market traction. OEMs, including Advantech, congatec, NEXCOM, Portwell, Inc., SECO and Tria, have selected Qualcomm’s latest innovation.

How are Competitors Faring?

Qualcomm faces competition from Intel Corporation INTC and Advanced Micro Devices AMD in this space. Intel Atom processor family includes a wide range of processors that support several use cases, including AI, 4K media, real-time computing, deep learning inference and other smart manufacturing requirements. The versatile configurations of Intel processors can meet most demanding throughput, power efficiency and latency requirements.

AMD’s industrial solutions portfolio struck the perfect balance between high performance and scalability. AMD Ryzen Embedded processors offer reliability and next-generation features for networking, storage, industrial, and graphics-intensive applications. The solution has gained solid momentum in aerospace, defense, automotive, healthcare and retail industries.

QCOM’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates

Qualcomm shares have gained 8.8% over the past year compared with the industry’s growth of 71.4%.

Going by the price/earnings ratio, the company's shares currently trade at 14.5 forward earnings, lower than 37.53 for the industry.

Earnings estimates for 2025 and 2026 have improved over the past 60 days.

Qualcomm currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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