Qualcomm Stock Drops 4% After Q3 Earnings Miss, AI Deal

Why Qualcomm Stock Dropped 4% Even After a $3.9 Billion AI Deal

Qualcomm's phone chips are stuck in a costly supply crunch, so the company just spent $3.9 billion betting its future isn't phones at all.

Jul 30, 2026

by Damilare Odedina

Qualcomm stock fell about 4% on July 30 after fiscal Q3 earnings beat on revenue but missed on profit, with weak Q4 guidance on top.
CEO Cristiano Amon says rising memory chip and component costs are behind the margin squeeze, and Qualcomm is raising prices on its chips starting September 1.
The same day, Qualcomm closed a $3.9 billion purchase of AI software company Modular and put its co-founder, Chris Lattner, in charge of Qualcomm's AI software strategy.

Qualcomm, one of the biggest suppliers of chips for Android phones, saw its stock slide on Thursday, July 30. Shares fell about 3.7%, trading around $149.98 in pre-market trading, after the company's fiscal Q3 earnings beat on revenue but missed on profit. The stock had already fallen as much as 8% in after-hours trading on Wednesday, July 29, before paring some of that loss by Thursday morning.

The company posted $9.9 billion in revenue, ahead of the $9.68 billion Wall Street expected, so overall demand for Qualcomm's chips held up fine, but margins didn't. Adjusted earnings of $2.21 a share came in a couple of cents below the roughly $2.22 consensus, because rising memory chip and component costs are eating into profit.

Outlook was a bigger worry. Qualcomm guided Q4 earnings to $2.05 to $2.25 a share, a range whose middle sits well below what analysts had already priced in. CEO Cristiano Amon pointed to memory chip shortages and rising component costs, and said Qualcomm will raise prices across its entire chip lineup starting September 1.

The same day, in a separate move, Qualcomm closed a $3.9 billion acquisition of AI software company Modular, a deal that shows exactly where Qualcomm is placing its next bet.

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