Qualcomm Wins BMW Chip Supply Deal for Next-Generation Vehicle Platforms

Qualcomm has just won a significant design win to supply semiconductor technology for BMW's next generation vehicle platforms and increases its presence in the booming automotive chip market.

As per the agreement, Qualcomm will provide its advanced processors and computing technologies to power its future vehicles which in turn will run a variety of digital services starting from infotainment and connectivity to advanced features including driver-assistance and Artificial Intelligence.

The agreement also reiterates the transition of automotive industry to the "software" based business.

Automobiles are more frequently dependent on high-performance computational platforms to control range of activities, from navigation and digital dashboards to advanced driving aids and in the future Over-The-Air (OTA) software upgrades and automakers have established deeper relationship with semiconductor makers to build intelligent vehicles for the future.

Qualcomm is among top chip makers that develop the computing components required for automobiles.

While earlier the company was largely focused on the smartphone market (processor and wireless communication technology), now it's rapidly scaling up its presence in the automotive industry with its Snapdragon Digital Chassis technology, which features connectivity, computing for the digital cockpit, telematics and driver assistance.

Automaker BMW is also stepping up its investment on digital vehicle tech development.

BMW continues to pursue and develop vehicles that feature sophisticated software, connectivity based services, artificial intelligence, and advanced user interfaces; and they are also betting on integrated computational architecture for their vehicle platforms to enhance continuous software upgrade capacity, throughout the lifecycle of vehicles.

AI is expected to play an integral part of the partnership.

The artificial intelligence based processors will help in enhancement of the voice assistant, driving personalization from an infotainment perspective, optimizing drive performance, navigation systems, driver assistance technologies and also will be beneficial in the overall vehicle safety and convenience aspect.

This deal between Qualcomm and BMW comes at a time where a large number of car makers are vying with each other to secure business from silicon vendors and also vice versa. Chipmakers include Nvidia, Intel's Mobileye and Qualcomm to secure design wins in developing the computational units required for next-generation connected and autonomous cars.

Automakers are demanding more and more powerful components.

Higher demand for compute for electric and software-defined cars is an important opportunity segment as they require much higher compute power in comparison with their traditional counterparts, thereby representing a larger growth for chipmakers that can develop high-performance and energy efficient computing platforms.

Automotive chips demand to go up further.

It's predicted that increased demand in terms of electric vehicles, connectivity services and artificial intelligence will drive stable long-term demand for automotive electronics firms.

For Qualcomm, the deal with BMW signifies more business beyond the smartphone sector, with automotive business now being one of Qualcomm's fastest growing segments, that will leverage long term design wins to contribute to a more stable revenue stream over the coming years as vehicle volumes ramp up.

BMW is likely to implement Qualcomm's technology on its future vehicle platforms spanning across numerous vehicle models and though the financial aspects of the deal have not been publicized, it shows the critical role that semiconductor companies will play in developing innovative future vehicles.