The connected intelligent edge is growth opportunity connectivity, processing, AI and more
First detailed last year at a capital markets event and impactfully contextualized at the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Qualcomm is moving fast on its strategy of expanding addressable market 7-fold to $700 billion by delivering the mobile technologies that will bring the connected intelligent edge to life.
“Mobile technology is literally going everywhere,” CEO Cristiano Amon said during Qualcomm’s MWC press conference. “Billions of smart devices are going to be connected to the cloud 100% of the time. If they are not connected, they are not as useful. This is an opportunity not only for connectivity but for smart processing, artificial intelligence, and everything that is going to happen at the edge. We’ve positioned ourself as the company that’s going to drive innovation at the edge and power the connected intelligent edge.”
During MWC, Qualcomm showed the world what it’s doing today to make this vision for the connected intelligent edge a reality, as well as demonstrated more long-term R&D focused on the evolution from 5G to 5G Advanced and, from there, on to 6G. Taken in total, the news items and technology showcase made clear the company’s sharp focus on executing on its growth plan.
Qualcomm SVP of Engineering John Smee characterized the company’s work as fundamentally improving 5G and driving it in new directions beyond data, while looking to the future of edge clouds and AI on-device and on the network working together to improve user experiences.
He told RCR Wireless News, “5G itself can offer services beyond data so we’re designing 5G, as an example, for positioning…whether that’s for industrial, whether it’s for automotive, or even for the metaverse and XR. Another example is how we look at edge services. As 5G continues to evolve, the way in which 5G interplays with connectivity and compute will also continue to evolve.
As the company works on improving mobility, power efficiency, data rates, applications and other areas of 5G, Smee is looking ahead to the state of technology in 2030. “How is the network and device going to work together as part of an artificially intelligent air interface? What excites me is this perspective of data—how it’s processed, where it’s processed, how intelligent the air interface can be.”
Watch all of Qualcomm’s advanced wireless technology demonstrations at MWC22.
For a deeper look at all of Qualcomm’s MWC22 demos, visit this resource hub.
