In this document,Annual Report, the words “Qualcomm,” “we,” “our,” “ours” and “us” refer only to QUALCOMM Incorporated and its subsidiaries and not any other person or entity. This Annual Report (including but not limited to the section regarding Management’stitled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations)Operations”) contains forward-looking statements regarding our business, investments, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.statements. Words such as “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates”“estimates,” “may,” “will,” “would” and similar expressions or variations of such words are intended to identify forward-looking statements, but are not the exclusive means of identifying forward-looking statements in this Annual Report. Additionally, statements concerning future matters such as our future business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition or research and development or technology investments; new or enhanced products, services or technologies; emerging industries or business models; design wins or product launches; industry, market or technology trends, dynamics or transitions; our expectations regarding future demand or supply conditions or macroeconomic factors; strategic investments or acquisitions, and the development of new products, enhancementsanticipated timing or technologies, industry and market trends, sales levels, expense levelsbenefits thereof; legal or regulatory matters; U.S./China trade or national security tensions; vertical integration by our customers; competition; and other statements regarding matters that are not historical are also forward-looking statements, but are not the exclusive means of identifying forward-looking statements in this Annual Report.statements.

Although forward-looking statements in this Annual Report reflect our good faith judgment, such statements can only be based on facts and factors currently known by us. Consequently, forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties and actual results and outcomes may differ materially from the results and outcomes discussed in or anticipated by the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences in results and outcomes include without limitation those discussed under “Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors” below, as well as those discussed elsewhere in this Annual Report. Readers are urged not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this Annual Report. We undertake no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect any event or circumstance that may arise after the date of this Annual Report. Readers are urged to carefully review and consider the various disclosures made in this Annual Report, which attempt to advise interested parties of the risks and factors that may affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We have three reportable segments. We conduct business primarily through QCT (Qualcomm CDMA Technologies) and QTL, (Qualcomm Technology Licensing), while QSI (Qualcomm Strategic Initiatives) makes strategic investments. RevenuesAdditional information regarding our operating segments is provided in fiscal 2019, 2018 and 2017 for our reportable segments were as follows (in millions, except percentage data):

At September 29, 2019,25, 2022, we employedhad approximately 37,00051,000 full-time, part-time and temporary employees, the overwhelming majority of which were full-time employees. During fiscal 2019,2022, the number of employees increased by approximately 1,600,6,000, primarily due to increases in engineering resources, partially offsetincluding those hired through acquisitions. Our employees are represented by actions taken undermore than 100 (self-identified) nationalities working in over 150 locations in 37 different countries around the world. Collectively, we speak more than 90 different languages. Our global workforce is highly educated, with the substantial majority of our Cost Plan.employees working in engineering or technical roles (many of whom help develop foundational technologies for both our QCT semiconductor business and our QTL licensing business). During fiscal 2022, our voluntary turnover rate was less than 10%, lower than the technology industry benchmark, which is comprised of certain of our key competitors (Aon, 2022 Salary Increase and Turnover Study - Second Edition, September 2022).

Our QCT segment derivesWe derive a significant portion of itsour revenues from a small number of customers and licensees, and particularly from their sale of premium tier devices, and we expect this trend to continue in the foreseeable future. Our industry is experiencing and may continue to experience concentration of device share among a few companies, particularly at the premium tier, contributing to this trend. Certain Chinese OEMs continue to grow their device share in China and are increasing their device share in regions outside of China, and we derive a significant and increasing portion of our revenues from a small number of these OEMs. OEMs as well. See also “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 1. Significant Accounting Policies - Concentrations.”

Finally,In addition, we spend a significant amount of engineering and development time, funds and resources in understanding our key customers’ feedback and/or specifications and attempt to incorporate such input into our product launches and technologies. These efforts may not require or result in purchase commitments from such customers or we may have lower purchases from such customers than expected, and consequently, we may not achieve the anticipated revenues from these efforts, or these efforts may result in non-recoverable costs.

The loss of any one of our significant customers, a reduction in the purchases of our products by suchany of these customers or the cancelationcancellation of significant purchases by any of these customers, whether due to the use of their own integrated circuit products or our competitors’ integrated circuit products, government restrictions, a decline in global, regional or local economic conditions, a decline in consumer demand, elevated inventory levels at our customers or otherwise, would reduce our revenues and could harm our ability to achieve or sustain expected results of operations, and aoperations. A delay of significant purchases, even if only temporary, would reduce our revenues in the period of the delay. Any such reduction in revenues would also impact our cash resources available for other purposes, such as research and development.

Further, the concentration of device share among a few companies, and the corresponding purchasing power of these companies, may result in lower prices for our products which, if not accompanied by a sufficient increase in the volume of purchases of our products, could have an adverse effect on our revenues and margins. In addition, the timing and size of purchases by our significant customers may be impacted by

Further, to the extent Apple purchases our modem products, it purchases our Mobile Data Modem (MDM)MDM (or thin modem) products, which do not include our integrated application processor technology, and which have lower revenue and margin contributions than our combined modem and application processor products. ToConsequently, to the extent Apple takes device share from our customers who purchase our integrated modem and application processor products, our revenues and margins may be negatively impacted.

Further, companies that develop HLOS forOur industry has also experienced slowing growth in the premium-tier device segment due to, among other factors, a maturing premium-tier smartphone industry in which demand is increasingly driven by new product launches and innovation cycles. A reduction in sales of premium-tier devices, including leading technology companies, sell their own devices. If we fail to effectively partner or continue partnering with these companies, or with their partners or customers, they may decide not to purchase (either directly or through their contract manufacturers)a reduction in sales of our premium-tier integrated circuit products (which have a higher revenue and margin contribution than our lower-tier integrated circuit products), or a shift in share away

Further, while our product and revenue diversification strategies have resulted in an increasing portion of our integrated circuit products.

Although we have more than 300 licensees, our QTL segment deriveswe derive a significant portion of itsour licensing revenues from a limited number of licensees, which increasingly includes a small number of Chinese OEMs. In the event that one or more of our significant licensees fail to meet their reporting and payment obligations, or we are unable to renew or modify one or more of suchtheir license agreements under similar terms as their existing agreements, our revenues, results of operations and cash flows would be adversely impacted. Moreover, the future growth and success of our core licensing business will depend in part on the ability of our licensees to develop, introduce and deliver high-volume products that achieve and sustain customer acceptance. We do not have no control over the product development, sales efforts or pricing of products by our licensees, and our licensees might not be successful. Reductions in sales of our licensees’ products, or reductions in the average selling prices of wireless devices sold by our licensees without a sufficient increase in the volumes of such devices sold, would generally have an adverse effect on our licensing revenues. Such adverse impact

We derive a significant portion of our revenues from the premium-tier device segment. If sales of premium-tier devices decrease, or sales ofChinese OEMs, and from non-Chinese OEMs that utilize our premium-tier integrated circuit products decrease,in their devices and sell those devices into China, which has the largest number of smartphone users in the world. We also source certain critical integrated circuit products from suppliers in China.

In addition, in order to successfully extend our technologies and products into new and expanded product areas, and industries and applications beyond mobile handsets, we may need to transition to new business models and transform aspects of our organization, and we expect this trend to continuemay not be successful in doing so.

If we are not successful in extending our technologies and products into new and expanded product areas, and industries and applications beyond mobile handsets, if our new technologies and products are not successful, or if we are not successful in the foreseeable future. time frames we anticipate, we may incur significant costs and asset impairments, our business and revenues may not grow or grow as anticipated, our revenues and margins may be negatively impacted, our stock price may decline and our reputation may be harmed.

We engage in acquisitions and other strategic transactions, including joint ventures, and make investments, which we believe are important to the future of our business, with the goal of maximizing stockholder value. We routinely acquire businesses and other assets, including patents, technology and other intangible assets, enter into joint ventures or other strategic transactions, and purchase minority equity interests in or make loans to companies, including those that may be private and early-stage. Our strategic activities are generally focused on opening or expanding opportunities for our products and technologies and supporting the design and introduction of new products (or enhancing existing products) for mobile handsets, and for industries and applications beyond mobile handsets. Many of our strategic activities entail a high degree of risk and require the use of significant amounts of capital, and investments may not become liquid for several years after the date of the investment, if at all. Our strategic activities may not be successful, generate financial returns or result in increased adoption or continued use of our technologies or products. We may underestimate the costs or overestimate the benefits, including product, revenue, cost and other synergies and growth opportunities that we expect to realize, and we may not achieve those benefits. In some cases, we may be required to consolidate or record our share of the earnings or losses of companies in which we have acquired ownership or variable interests. In addition, we have in the past recorded, and may in the future record, impairment or other charges related to our strategic activities. Any losses or impairment charges that we incur related to strategic activities will have a negative impact on our results of operations and financial condition, and we may continue to incur new or additional losses related to strategic assets or investments that we have not fully impaired or exited.

We cannot guarantee that the actions of our suppliers will not cause disruptions in our operations that could harm our ability to meet our delivery obligations to our customers or increase our cost of sales. To the extent we are unable to obtain adequate supply to meet our delivery obligations, we may be obligated to make payments to our customers for such shortfalls. Recently, the global semiconductor industry experienced demand for integrated circuits that exceeded the industry’s capacity to meet that demand. Our ability to meet increased demand for our products has been and may in the future be limited due to the inability to obtain the additional manufacturing, assembly and test capacity necessary to fully meet such demand. If we are unable to fully meet customer demand, this could result in lost sales opportunities, reduced revenue growth and harm to our customer relationships. These issues may be exacerbated if customers overstate their expected demand requirements in order to procure additional supply, which could negatively impact our ability to forecast and to allocate supply appropriately among our customers. The above issues may also be exacerbated with respect to our platform solutions, which already entail a great deal of complexity due to differing lead-times, technologies and suppliers for each integrated circuit product included in such solutions. Additionally, our suppliers have in the past and may in the future increase their prices during periods of capacity constraints, or for other reasons, thus increasing our costs.

We operate various facilities that manufacture certain of our RFFE modules and RF filter products. Our manufacturing facilities are characterized by a higher portion of fixed costs relative to a fabless model. We may be faced with a decline in the utilization rates of our manufacturing facilities due to decreases in demand for our products, including in less favorable industry or macroeconomic environments, or due to our failure to win and/or retain designs with OEMs. As a result, from time to time our manufacturing facilities operate at lower capacity levels, while the fixed costs associated with such facilities continue to be incurred, resulting in lower gross profit. Due to the factors above, we are currently experiencing, and expect to continue to experience slowing growth in the premium-tier device segmentnear term, such underutilization of capacity at our manufacturing facilities.

Our manufacturing operations depend on securing raw materials, equipment and other supplies in adequate quality and quantity in a timely manner from multiple suppliers, and in some cases, we rely on a limited number of suppliers, including in some cases sole suppliers, particularly in Asia. There may be cases where supplies of raw materials, equipment and other products are interrupted or limited by natural disaster, geopolitical conflict, accident or some other event affecting a supplier or source of raw materials; supply is suspended due to quality or other issues; there is a shortage of supply due to a rapid increase in demand; and/or we or our suppliers are prohibited from utilizing certain raw materials, or products or components that incorporate such raw materials, due to government restrictions related to the countries from which such raw materials originate, and acceptable alternative suppliers, raw materials or raw materials sources are not available or not available in acceptable time frames or upon acceptable terms, among others, which could impact production and prevent us from supplying our products to our customers. If the supply-demand balance is disrupted, it may considerably increase costs of manufacturing due to increased prices we pay for raw materials. From time to time, suppliers may extend lead times, limit amounts supplied to us or increase prices due to capacity constraints or other factors, lengthening replacement cyclesfactors. Additionally, supply and costs of raw materials, equipment and other products may be negatively impacted by trade and/or national security protection policies, such as tariffs, or actions by governments that limit or prevent us from transacting business with certain countries or companies or that limit or prevent certain companies from transacting business with us, or trade tensions, particularly with countries in developed regions, where premium-tier smartphonesAsia. Further, it may be difficult or impossible to substitute one piece of equipment for another or replace one type of material with another. A failure by our suppliers to deliver our requirements could result in disruptions to our manufacturing operations.

Our manufacturing processes are common; increasing consumerhighly complex, require advanced and costly equipment and must be continuously modified to improve yields and performance. Difficulties in the production process can reduce yields or interrupt production, and as a result, we may not be able to deliver our products or do so in a timely, cost-effective or competitive manner. Further, to remain competitive and meet customer demand, we may be required to improve our facilities and process technologies and carry out extensive research and development, each of which may require investment of significant amounts of capital and may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.

From time to time, we begin to purchase equipment to meet expected customer demand in emerging regionsadvance of any purchase orders or long-term purchase commitments. Further, we typically begin manufacturing our products using our or our customers’ forecasts of demand for our products, which are based on a number of assumptions and China where premium-tier smartphonesestimates and may not be covered by long-term purchase commitments. As a result, we may incur increased inventory and manufacturing costs and/or record impairment charges to the extent anticipated sales ultimately do not materialize or are less common and replacement cycles are on average longerlower than in developed regions and are continuing to lengthen; and a maturing premium-tier smartphone industry in whichexpected. If we or our customers overestimate demand, or if demand is increasingly drivenimpacted by new product launchesfactors outside of our or our customers’ control, and innovation cycles.such demand is not covered by a binding commitment from our customers, we may experience higher inventory carrying and operating costs and/or increased excess or obsolete inventory or reserve charges, which would negatively impact our results of operations.

Third parties regularly attempt to gain unauthorized access to our IT systems, and many such attacks are increasingly more sophisticated. These attacks, which might be related to industrial, corporate or other espionage, criminal hackers or state-sponsored intrusions, include trying to covertly introduce malware to our computers and networks, including those in our manufacturing operations, exploiting vulnerabilities in hardware, software or other IT infrastructure and impersonating authorized users, among others. We are also subject to ransom-style cyber-attacks, which could expose our confidential or proprietary information, request payment of money and/or impact our IT systems and cause widespread disruption to our business, including our manufacturing operations. Third parties that store and/or process our confidential information, or that provide products, software or services used in our IT infrastructure (including applications), may be subject to similar attacks, which could also result in malware being introduced into our IT infrastructure, e.g., through the third parties’ software and/or software updates. Such attacks could result in the misappropriation, theft, misuse, disclosure, loss or destruction of the technology, intellectual property, or the proprietary, confidential or personal information, of us or our employees, customers, licensees, suppliers or other third parties, as well as damage to or disruptions in our IT systems. We believe that we have a robust cybersecurity program that is aligned to international cybersecurity frameworks, and that we leverage industry is experiencing concentrationbest practices across people, processes and technologies in an attempt to mitigate cybersecurity threats. However, we cannot anticipate, detect, repel or implement fully effective preventative measures against all cybersecurity threats, particularly because the techniques used are increasingly sophisticated and constantly evolving. As part of device share at the premium tier among a few companies, which gives them significant leverage. Further, certainour cybersecurity program, we seek to identify and remediate vulnerabilities in our IT systems and software (including third party software used in our IT systems) that could be exploited by hackers or other malicious actors. However, we may not be aware of those companiesall such vulnerabilities, and we may fail to identify and/or remediate such vulnerabilities before they are exploited. Attempts to gain unauthorized access to our IT systems or other attacks have in the past, utilized, currently utilizein certain instances and to certain degrees, been successful (but have not caused significant harm), and may in the future utilize their own internally-developed integrated circuit productsbe successful, and in some cases, we might be unaware of an incident or its magnitude and effects.

The misappropriation, theft, misuse, disclosure, loss or destruction of the technology, intellectual property, or the proprietary, confidential or personal information, of us or our competitors’ integrated circuit products ratheremployees, customers, licensees, suppliers or other third parties, could harm our competitive position, reduce the value of our investment in research and development and other strategic initiatives, cause us to lose business, damage our reputation, subject us to legal or regulatory proceedings, cause us to incur other loss or liability and otherwise adversely affect our business. We expect to continue to devote significant resources to the security of our IT systems and our technology, intellectual property and proprietary and confidential information.

Our future success depends upon the continued service of our executive officers and other key management and technical personnel, and on our ability to continue to identify, attract, retain and motivate them. Implementing our business strategy requires specialized engineering and other talent, as our revenues are highly dependent on technological and product innovations. In addition, in order to extend our business into certain new and expanded product areas and industries and applications beyond mobile handsets, we need to attract, retain and motivate engineering and other technical personnel with specialized skills in these areas, and these skills are in high demand among our competitors. The market for employees in our industry is extremely competitive, and competitors for talent, particularly engineering talent, increasingly attempt to hire, and to varying degrees have been successful in hiring, our employees or employment candidates, including by establishing or expanding local offices near our headquarters in San Diego, California. Further, the increased availability of remote working arrangements has expanded the pool of companies that can compete for our employees and employment candidates. A number of such competitors for talent are significantly larger than us and/or offer compensation in excess of what we offer or other benefits that we generally do not offer, such as the ability to permanently work from home. Further, existing immigration laws make it more difficult for us to recruit and retain highly skilled foreign national graduates of universities in the United States, making the pool of available talent even smaller. If we are unable to attract and retain qualified employees, our productsbusiness may be harmed. The COVID-19 pandemic caused us to modify our workforce practices, including having the vast majority of our employees work from home. While we have generally reopened our offices, we are currently operating under a hybrid work model, meaning that the majority of our employees have the flexibility to work remotely at least some of the time. The hybrid work model may impair our ability to maintain our collaborative and innovative culture, and may cause disruptions among our employees, including decreases in all or a portion of their devices. These dynamicsproductivity, challenges in communications between on-site and off-site employees and, potentially, employee dissatisfaction and attrition. Further, any future attempt to transition away from the hybrid work model to more stringent on-site work requirements may result in reduced salesemployee dissatisfaction and attrition. If we fail to retain key employees or maintain employee productivity as a result of the hybrid work model or lower prices foran attempt to return to more on-site work, our premium-tier integrated circuit products.business could be adversely impacted.

We own a higher revenuevery strong portfolio of issued and margin contribution thanpending patents related to 3G, 4G, 5G and other technologies. It is critical that we continue to evolve our lower-tier integrated circuit products) or a shiftpatent portfolio, particularly in share away from OEMs that utilize our products to OEMs that5G. If we do not utilizemaintain a strong portfolio that is applicable to current and future standards, products and services, our products, would reducefuture licensing revenues could be negatively impacted.

Our patent license agreements in effect that generate a significant portion of our licensing revenues are effective for a specified term. To receive royalties after the expiration date of the specified term, we will need to extend or modify such license agreements or enter into new license agreements with such licensees. We might not be able to extend or modify license agreements, or enter into new license agreements, in the future without negatively affecting the material terms and marginsconditions of our license agreements with such licensees, and such modifications or new agreements may negatively impact our revenues. In some circumstances, we may extend, modify or enter into new license agreements as a result of arbitration or litigation, and terms imposed by arbitrators or courts may be less favorable to us than existing terms and may harmimpact the financial or other terms of license agreements not subject to the litigation or arbitration. If there is a delay in extending, modifying or entering into a new license agreement with a licensee, there would be a delay in our ability to achieverecognize revenues related to that licensee’s product sales. Further, if we are unable to reach agreement on such modifications or sustain expected financial results. Anynew agreements, it could result in patent infringement litigation with such reduction in revenues would also impact our cash resources available for other purposes, such as research and development.licensees.

From time to time, companies initiate various strategies to attempt to negotiate, renegotiate, reduce and/or eliminate their need to pay royalties to us for the use of our intellectual property. These strategies have included: (i) litigation, often alleging infringement of patents held by such companies, patent misuse, patent exhaustion, patent invalidity or unenforceability of our patents or licenses, alleging that we do not license our patents on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) terms, or alleging some form of unfair competition or competition law violation; (ii) taking positions contrary to our understanding (and/or the plain language) of their contracts with us; (iii) appeals to governmental authorities; (iv) collective action, including working with wireless operators, standards bodies, other like-minded companies and organizations, on both formal and informal bases, to adopt intellectual property policies and practices that could have the effect of limiting returns on intellectual property innovations; (v) lobbying governmental regulators and elected officials for the purpose of seeking the reduction of royalty rates or the base on which royalties are calculated, seeking to impose some form of compulsory licensing or weakening a patent holder’s ability to enforce its rights or obtain a fair return for such rights; and (vi) various attempts by licensees to shift their royalty obligation to their suppliers that results in loweringorder to lower the wholesale (i.e., licensee’s) selling price on which the royalty is calculated.

In addition, certain licensees have disputed, underreported, underpaid, not reported or not paid royalties owed to us under their license agreements or reported to us in a manner that is not in compliance with their contractual obligations, and certain companies have yet to enter into or have delayed entering into or renewing license agreements with us for their use of our intellectual property. Further, certain licensees and companies are currently engaged in such behaviorproperty, and they or others may engage in such behavior in the future. The fact that one or more licensees dispute, underreport, underpay, do not report or do not pay royalties owed to us may encourage other licensees to take similar actions or not renew their existing license agreements, and may encourage other licensees or unlicensed companies to delay entering into, or to not enter into, new license agreements. Further, to the extent such licensees and companies increase their device share, the negative impact of their underreporting, underpayment, non-payment or non-reporting on our business, revenues, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition and cash flows will be exacerbated.

In addition, in connection with our participation in SDOs, we, like other patent owners, generally have made contractual commitments to such organizations to license those of our patents that would necessarily be infringed by standard-compliant products as set forth in those commitments.commitments (referred to as standard-essential patents). Some manufacturers and users of standard-compliant products advance interpretations of these commitments that are adverse to our licensing business, including interpretations that would limit the amount of royalties that we could collect on the licensing of our standard-essential patent portfolio.

Further, some companies or entitiesthird parties have proposed significant changes to existing intellectual property policies for implementation by SDOs and other industry organizations with the goal of significantly devaluing standard-essential patents. For example, some have put forth proposals which would require a maximum aggregate intellectual property royalty rate for the use of all standard-essential patents owned by all of the member companies to be applied to the selling price of any product implementing the relevant standard. They have further proposed that such maximum aggregate royalty rate be apportioned to each member company with standard-essential patents based upon the number of standard-essential patents held by such company. Others have proposed that injunctions should not be an available remedy for infringement of standard-essential patents and have made proposals that could severely limit damage awards and other remedies by courts for patent infringement (e.g., by severely limiting the base upon which the royalty rate may be applied). A number of these strategies are purportedly based on interpretations of the policies of certain SDOs concerning the licensing of patents that are or may be essential to industry standards and on our (or other companies’) alleged failure to abide by these policies.

Some SDOs, courts and governmental agencies have adopted, and may in the future adopt, some or all of these interpretations or proposals in a manner adverse to our interests, including in litigation to which we may not be a party. Further, SDOs in certain countries may attempt to modify widely accepted standards and claim the resulting standard as their own.

We expect that such proposals, interpretations and strategies will continue in the future, and if successful, our business model would be harmed, either by limiting or eliminating our ability to collect royalties (or by reducing the royalties we can collect) on all or a portion of our standard-essential patent portfolio, limiting our return on investment with respect to new

We have been in the past and currently are currently subject to various governmental investigations and proceedings, particularly with respect to our licensing business, including the lawsuit filed against us by the FTC.proceedings. Certain of these matters are described more fully in this Annual Report in “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 7. Commitments and Contingencies.” Key allegations or findings in those matters include or have in the past included, among others,others: that we violate FRAND licensing commitments by refusing to grant licenses to chipset makers,manufacturers; that our royalty rates are too high,high; that the base on which our royalties are calculated should be something less than the wholesale (i.e., licensee’s) selling price of the applicable device (minus certain permitted deductions),; that we unlawfully require customers to execute a patent license before we sell them cellular modem chipsets,chipsets; that we have entered into exclusive agreements with chipset customers that foreclose competition,competition; that we leverage our position in baseband chipsets in the RFFE space; and that we violate antitrust laws and engage in anticompetitive conduct and unfair methods of competition. We may become subject to other litigation or governmental investigations or proceedings in the future.

Unfavorable resolutions of one or more of these matters have had and could in the future have a material adverse effect on our business, revenues, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition and cash flows.condition. Depending on the matter, various remedies that could result from an unfavorable resolution include, among others,others: the loss of our ability to enforce one or more of our patents; injunctions; monetary damages, or fines or other orders to pay money; the issuance of orders to cease certain conduct or modify our business practices, such as requiring us to reduce our royalty rates, reduce the base on which our royalties are calculated, grant patent licenses to chipset manufacturers, sell chipsets to unlicensed OEMs or modify or renegotiate some or all of our existing license agreements; and determinations that some or all of our license agreements are invalid or unenforceable. In addition, a governmental body in a particular country or region may successfully assert and impose remedies with effects that extend beyond the borders of that country or region. If some or all of our license agreements are declared invalid or unenforceable and/or we are required to renegotiate these license agreements, we may not receive, or may not be able to recognize, some or any licensing or royalty revenues under the impacted license agreements unless and until we enter into new license agreements; and even licensees whose license agreements are not impacted may demand to renegotiate their agreements or invoke the dispute resolution provision in their agreements, and we may not be able to recognize some or any licensing or royalty revenues under such agreements. The renegotiation of license agreements could result in terms that are less favorable to us than existing terms, or lead to arbitration or litigation to resolve the licensing terms, (whichwhich could also be less favorable to us than existing terms),terms, and each of which could take months or possibly years. Licensees may underreport, underpay, not report or not pay royalties owed to us pending the conclusion of such negotiations, arbitration or litigation. In addition, we may be sued for alleged overpayments of past royalties paid to us, including private antitrust actions seeking treble damages under U.S. antitrust laws. Further, if our appeal in

The occurrence of any of the FTC lawsuit is unsuccessful, itabove could have a material adverse effect on our business. Any such eventbusiness, revenues, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition, and our stock price could result in a materially negative impact on our financial condition,decline, possibly significantly, in which case we wouldmay have to

We develop, patent and commercialize technology and products based on CDMA, OFDMA and other communications technologies, which are primarily wireless. We depend on our customers and licensees to develop devices and services based on these technologies to drive consumer demand for new 3G/4G/5G multimode and single-mode devices, and to establish the selling prices for such devices. Further, the timing of our shipments of our products is dependent on the timing of our customers’ and licensees’ deployments of new devices and services based on these technologies. Increasingly, we expectalso depend on operators of wireless networks, our customers and licensees and other third parties to incorporate these technologies into new device types and into industries and applications beyond mobile handsets, such as automotive and IoT, among others. Commercial deployments of 5G networks and devices have begun and are expected to continue for the foreseeable future. However, the timing and scale of such deployments, in certain regions, have been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and may be further delayed for reasons that they willare beyond our control.

Our revenues and growth in revenues could be negatively impacted, our business may be harmed and our substantial investments in these technologies may not provide us an adequate return, if: our customers’ and licensees’ revenues and sales of products, particularly premium-tier products, and services using these technologies, and average selling prices of such products, decline due to, for example, the maturity of smartphone penetration in developed regions, including China; we do not continue to maintain our intellectual property and technical leadership in 5G, including in ongoing 5G standardization efforts; we are unable to drive the adoption of our products into networks and devices, including devices beyond mobile handsets; or consumers’ rates of replacement of smartphones and other devices decline.

Our products and technologies face significant competition. Competition may intensify as our current competitors expand their product offerings, improve their products or reduce the respective matters are resolved.prices of their products as part of a strategy to maintain existing business and customers or attract new business and customers, as new opportunities develop, and as new competitors enter the industry. Competition in wireless communications is affected by various factors that include, among others: OEM concentrations; vertical integration; competition in certain geographic regions; government intervention or support of national industries or competitors; the ability to maintain product differentiation in light of evolving industry standards and speed of technological change (including the transition to smaller geometry process technologies and the demand for always on, always connected capabilities); access to capacity in the supply chain; and value-added features that drive selling prices and consumer demand for new 3G/4G/5G multimode and single-mode devices.

Competition in any or all of our patent portfolio. If more licensees choose a license to only our cellular standard-essential patents instead of a portfolio license than has historically been the case, our licensing revenues and earnings would be negatively impacted unless we were able to license our other patents at rates that offset all or a portion of any difference between the royalties previously received for licenses of substantially all of our patent portfolio as compared to licenses of only our cellular standard-essential patents or there was a sufficient increaseproduct tiers may result in the overall volumeloss of sales of devices uponbusiness or customers, which royalties are paid.

Our products may be responsible for critical functions in our customers’ products and networks. Failure of our products to perform to specifications, meet certain regulatory or industry standards (including product safety and information security standards, which may differ by region, geography and industry, and which are particularly stringent in the automotive industry), or other product defects, errors or security vulnerabilities, could lead to substantial damage to the products we assertedsell to our patentscustomers, the devices into which our products are integrated and the end users of such devices, and potentially to our customers’ IT infrastructure. Such defects, errors or security vulnerabilities could give rise to significant costs, including costs related to developing solutions, recalling products, repairing or replacing defective products, writing down defective inventory or indemnification obligations under our agreements, and could result in the loss of sales and divert the attention of our engineering personnel from our product development efforts. In addition, defects, errors or security vulnerabilities in our products could result in failure to achieve market acceptance, a loss of design wins, a shifting of business to our competitors, and litigation or regulatory action against themus, and could harm our reputation, our relationships with customers and partners and our ability to obtain licensing revenueattract new customers, as well as the perceptions of our brand. Other potential adverse impacts of product defects, errors or security vulnerabilities include shipment delays, write-offs of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets, and losses on unfavorable purchase commitments. In addition, defects, errors or security vulnerabilities in the products of our customers or licensees could cause a delay or decrease in demand for those patents. This wouldthe products into which our products are integrated, and thus for our products.

In addition, the occurrence of defects, errors or security vulnerabilities may give rise to product liability claims, particularly if such defects, errors or security vulnerabilities in our products or the technology we use, or the products into which they are integrated, result in personal injury or death, and could result in significant costs, expenses and losses. If a product liability claim is brought against us, the cost of defending the claim could be significant, and could divert the attention of our technical and management personnel and harm our business, even if we are successful. We may be named in product liability claims even if there is no evidence that our products caused the damage in question, and even though we may have indemnity from our customers, and such claims could result in significant costs and expenses. We may also be required to indemnify and/or defend our customers from product liability claims relating to our products. Further, our business liability insurance may be inadequate, may not cover the claims, and future coverage may be unavailable on acceptable terms, which could adversely impact our financial results. The above is exacerbated by the fact that our products may be used, and perform critical functions, in various high-risk applications such as: automobiles, including ADAS/AD functions; cameras and artificial intelligence, including home and enterprise security; home automation, including smoke and noxious gas detectors; medical condition monitoring; location and asset tracking and management, including wearables for child safety and elderly health; robotics, including public safety drones and autonomous municipality vehicles; and extended reality (XR) for treatment of phobias or PTSD, early detection of disorders or special needs, among others.

Accordingly, defects, errors or security vulnerabilities in our products or the technologies we use could have an adverse impact on us, on our customers and the end users of our customers’ products. If any of these risks materialize, there could be a material adverse effect on our licensing program and ourbusiness, results of operations and financial condition and cash flows.condition.

Some industry participants who have a vested interest in devaluing patents in general, or standard-essential patents in particular, have mounted attacks on certain patent systems, increasing the likelihood of changes to established patent laws. We cannot predict with certainty the long-term effects of any potential changes. In the United States, there is continued discussion regarding potential patent law changes, and there is current and potential future litigation regarding patents, the outcomes of which could be detrimental to our licensing business. TheFurther, the laws in certain foreign countries in which our patents are or may be licensed, or our products are or may be manufactured or sold, including certain countries in Asia, may not protect our intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws in the United States. We expect that the European Union (EU) will adopt a unitary patent system in the next few years that may broadly impact that region’s patent regime. We cannot predict with certainty the long-term effects of any potential changes. In addition, we cannot be certain that the laws and policies of any country or the practices of any standards bodies, foreign or domestic, with respect to intellectual property enforcement or licensing or the adoption of standards, will not be changed in the future in a wayways that are detrimental to our licensing programprograms or to the sale or use of our products or technologies.

We have engaged in litigation and arbitration in the past and may need to further litigate or arbitrate in the future to enforce our contract and intellectual property rights, protect our trade secrets or determine the validity and scope of proprietary rights of others. As a result of any such litigation or arbitration, we could lose our ability to enforce one or more patents, portions of our license agreements could be determined to be invalid or unenforceable (which may in turn result in other licensees either not complying with their existing license agreements or initiating litigation)litigation or arbitration), license terms (including but not limited to royalty rates for the use of our intellectual property) could be imposed that are less favorable to us than existing terms, and we could incur substantial costs. Any action we take to enforce our contract or intellectual property rights could be costly and could absorb significant management time and attention, which, in turn, could negatively impact our results of operations and cash flows. Further, even a positive resolution to our enforcement efforts may take time to conclude, which may reduce our revenues and cash resources available for other purposes, such as research and development, in the periods prior to conclusion.

From time to time, companies have asserted, and may again assert, patent, copyright andor other intellectual property rightsclaims against our products or products usingus relating to our technologies or products, including those we have acquired from other technologies used in our industry.companies. These claims have resulted and may again result in our involvement in litigation.litigation, and we are currently involved in such litigation, including those described in this Annual Report in “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 7. Commitments and Contingencies.” We may not prevail in such litigation given, among other factors, the complex technical issues and inherent uncertainties in intellectual property litigation. If any of our products or services were found to infringe another company’s intellectual property, rights, we could be subject to an injunction or be required to redesign our products, or services, which could be costly, or to license such rightsintellectual property or pay damages or other compensation to such other company.company (any of which could be costly). If we are unable to redesign our products, or services, license such intellectual property rights used in our products or services or otherwise distribute our products (e.g., through a licensed supplier), we could be prohibited from making and selling such products or providing such services.our products. Similarly, our suppliers could be found to infringe another company’s intellectual property, rights, and such suppliers could then be enjoined from providing products or services to us.

In any potential dispute involving us and another company’s patents or other intellectual property, our chipset foundries, semiconductor assembly and test providers and customers could also become the targets of litigation. We are contingently liable under certain product sales, services, license and other agreements to indemnify certain customers, chipset foundries and semiconductor assembly and test service providers against certain types of liability and damages arising from qualifying claims of patent infringement by products or services sold or provided by us, or by intellectual property provided by us to our chipset foundries and semiconductor assembly and test service providers. Reimbursements under indemnification arrangements could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and cash flows. Furthermore, any such litigation could severely disrupt the supply of our products and the businesses of our chipset customers and their customers, which in turn could harm our relationships with them and could result in a decline in our chipset sales or a reduction in our licensees’ sales, causing a corresponding decline in our chipset or licensing revenues. Any claims, regardless of their merit, could be time consuming to address, result in costly litigation, divert the efforts of our technical and management personnel and/or cause product release or shipment delays, any of which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and cash flows.

We may continue to be involved in litigation and may have to appear in front of administrative bodies (such as the United States International Trade Commission) to defend against patent assertions against our products by companies, some of whom are attempting to gain competitive advantage or leverage in licensing negotiations. We may not be successful in such proceedings, and if we are not, the range of possible outcomes is very broad and may include, for example, monetary

Certain of our software and our suppliers’ software may contain or may be derived from “open source” software, and we have seen, and believe that we will continue to see, an increase in customers requestingrequest that we develop products, including software associated with our integrated circuit products, that incorporate open source software elements and operate in an open source environment, which, under certain open source licenses, may offer accessibility to a portion of a product’sour products’ source code and may expose our related intellectual property to adverse licensing conditions. Licensing of such software may impose certain obligations on us if we were to distribute derivative works of the open sourcethat software. For example, these obligations may require us to make source code for the derivative works available to our customers in a manner that allows them to make such source code available to their customers or license such derivative works under a particular type of license that is different than what we customarily use to license our software. Furthermore, in the course of product development, we may make contributions to third partythird-party open source projects that could obligatesubject our intellectual property to adverse licensing conditions. For example, to encourage the growth of a software ecosystem that is interoperable with our products, we may need to contribute certain implementations under the open source licensing terms that govern such projects, which may adversely impact certain of our associated intellectual property. Developing open source products, while adequately protecting the intellectual property rights upon which our licensing businessprograms depends, may prove burdensome and time-consuming under certain circumstances, thereby placing us at a competitive disadvantage, and we may not adequately protect our intellectual property rights.property. Also, our use and our customers’ use of open source software may subject our products and our customers’ products to governmental and third-party scrutiny and delays in product certification, which could cause customers to view our products as less desirable than our competitors’ products.

The COVID-19 pandemic, or a similar health crisis that may arise in the future, could impact our intellectual property rights,business, results of operations and financial condition in the manner described above, and/or through delayed, reduced or cancelled customer orders; disruptions or delays in our contributionssupply chain; the inability of our customers or licensees to purchase or pay for our products or technologies; the insolvency of key suppliers, customers or licensees; delays in reporting or payments from our customers or licensees; or failures by other counterparties. The degree to which the COVID-19 pandemic, or a similar health crisis, may impact our future business, results of operations and usefinancial condition will depend on future developments, which are uncertain, including but not limited to the duration of open source software presents risks that could have anthe pandemic or other health crisis; spikes in cases in various geographic regions; the emergence, spread and severity of new virus or disease variants; the availability, adoption and efficacy of vaccines or other medical treatments; and government responses and other actions to limit the spread of the virus or disease or to mitigate resulting negative economic effects. We are similarly unable to predict the extent to which COVID-19 or similar health crisis may impact our customers, licensees, suppliers and other partners and their financial conditions, but adverse effecteffects on these rights and onparties could also adversely affect us. To the extent the COVID-19 pandemic or a similar health crisis adversely affects our business.business, results of operations or financial condition, it may also have the effect of exacerbating the other risks discussed in this “Risk Factors” section.

The semiconductor industry is highly cyclical, volatile, subject to downturns and characterized by constant and rapid technological change, price erosion, evolving technical standards, frequent new product introductions, short product life cycles (for both semiconductors and for many of the products in which they are used) and fluctuations in product supply and demand. From time to time, these factors, together with changes in general economic conditions, cause significant upturns and downturns in the semiconductor industry. Periods of downturns have been characterized by diminished demand for end-user products, high inventory levels, periods ofexcess or obsolete inventory adjustment,adjustments or reserves, underutilization of manufacturing capacity, changes in revenue mix and erosion of average selling prices. We expect our business to continue to be subject to such cyclical downturns, even when overall economic conditions are relatively stable. If we cannot offset semiconductor industry or marketdownturns. During such downturns, our revenues may decline, and our financial condition and results of operations and financial condition may be adversely impacted. We are currently seeing and expect to continue to see weakness in the macroeconomic environment (negatively impacting consumer demand for smartphones and other devices that incorporate our products and technologies) and elevated inventory levels at our customers (negatively impacting the volume of chipsets they purchase from us until such inventory is depleted). Until these conditions improve, we expect that both of these dynamics will have a negative impact on our revenues, results of operations and cash flows.

Our stock price and earningsfinancial results have fluctuated in the past and are likely to fluctuate in the future. Factors that may have a significant impact on the market price of our stock and earningsour financial results include those identified above and throughout this Risk Factors section;section, as well as: volatility of the stock market in general and technology-basedtechnology and semiconductor companies in particular; announcements concerning us, our suppliers, our competitors or our customers or licensees;licensees, including any announcement concerning the initiation of, or any developments in, any lawsuit or governmental investigation or proceeding against us; and variations between our actual financial results or guidance and expectations of securities analysts or investors, among others. Further, increased volatility in the financial markets and overall economic conditions may reduce the amounts that we realize in the future on our cash equivalents and marketable securities and may reduce our earnings as a result of any reductions in the fair values of marketable securities.

Our outstanding indebtednessdebt and any additional indebtednessdebt we incur may have negative consequences on our business, including, among others:

We are subject to income taxes in the United States and numerous foreign jurisdictions. Significant judgment is required in determining our provision for income taxes. We regularly are subject to examination of our tax returns and reports by taxing authorities in the United States federal jurisdiction and various state and foreign jurisdictions, most notably in

Further changes in the tax laws of foreign jurisdictions could arise as a result of the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project that was undertaken by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The OECD, which represents a coalition of member countries, recommended changes to numerous long-standing tax principles related to transfer pricing.pricing and continues to develop new proposals including allocating greater taxing rights to countries where customers are located and establishing a minimum tax on global income. These changes, as adopted by countries, may increase tax uncertainty and may adversely affect our provision for income taxes, results of operations and cash flows. Partially to address BEPS, we moved certain IP from Singapore to the United States. As a result, if tax rates were to increase in the United States, our results of operations, cash flows and financial condition could be adversely affected.

Our common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market (NASDAQ) under the symbol “QCOM.” At November 4, 2019,October 31, 2022, there were 6,6836,349 holders of record of our common stock.

We currently intend to continue to pay quarterly cash dividends, subject to capital availability and our view that cash dividends are in the best interests of our stockholders. Future dividends may be affected by, among other items, our views on potential future capital availability and requirements, including those relating to research and development, creation and expansion of sales and distribution channels, investments and acquisitions, legal and regulatory risks, withholding of payments by one or more of our significant licensees and/or customers, fines by government agencies and/or adverse rulings by a courtgovernment agencies, courts or arbitratorarbitrators in a legal matter,or regulatory matters, stock repurchase programs, debt issuances, changes in federal, and state or foreign income tax law, trade and/or national security protection policies, volatility in economies and financial markets or other macroeconomic conditions, and changes to our business model.

We develop and commercialize foundational technologies and products used in mobile devices and other wireless products. We derive revenues principally from sales of integrated circuit products and licensing our intellectual property, including patents and other rights.

We are organized on the basis of products and services and have three reportable segments. We conduct business primarily through our QCT (Qualcomm CDMA Technologies) semiconductor business and our QTL (Qualcomm Technology Licensing) licensing business. QCT develops and supplies integrated circuits and system software based on CDMA, OFDMA and other technologies for use in mobile devices (primarily smartphones), tablets, laptops, data modules, handheld wireless computers and gaming devices, access points and routers, broadband gateway equipment, data cards and infrastructure equipment, IoT devices and applications, other consumer electronics and automotive telematics and infotainment systems. QTL grants licenses or otherwise provides rights to use portions of our intellectual property portfolio, which, among other rights, includes certain patent rights essential to and/or useful in the manufacture, sale and/or use of certain wireless products. Our QSI (Qualcomm Strategic Initiatives) reportable segment makes strategic investments. We also have nonreportable segments, including QualcommQGOV (Qualcomm Government Technologies or QGOV (formerly Qualcomm Cyber Security Solutions)Technologies) and other wireless technology and service initiatives.our cloud AI inference processing initiative.

The decrease in interest expense in fiscal 2022 was primarily driven by a $62 million chargereversal of accrued interest recorded in the third quarter of fiscal 2022 related to the 2019annulled 2018 EC finefine.