AI Takeover: Qualcomm’s Big Bet on AI Agents, Robots and 6G | Titans and Disruptors

Fortune Magazine
Fortune MagazineMay 6, 2026

Why It Matters

Qualcomm’s push into AI agents and 6G will redefine how consumers and enterprises interact with technology, creating a new market for personalized, anticipatory devices and cementing the company’s role as the backbone of the next digital era.

Key Takeaways

  • Qualcomm aims to make AI agents the next primary device.
  • 6G will enable ultra‑low latency uplink for real‑time AI.
  • Digital twins of the world will be built via networked sensors.
  • Wearable AI gadgets like glasses, pins, and jewelry will personalize agents.
  • Qualcomm’s diversification from smartphones to automotive, robotics, and data centers.

Summary

The interview with Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon centers on the company’s bold pivot from a smartphone‑centric business to a broader AI‑driven ecosystem that includes agents, robotics, wearables and the forthcoming 6G network. Amon emphasizes that Qualcomm’s chips already power billions of devices, and the firm is leveraging that scale to embed AI at the edge, creating what he calls the next primary device after the phone. Key insights include the belief that 2026 will be the “year of agents,” with large‑language and visual models forming a new natural‑language interface for devices. 6G is portrayed as more than faster bandwidth—it will deliver ultra‑low‑latency uplinks, enabling continuous streaming of sensor data to the cloud, essential for digital twins, holographic collaboration, autonomous vehicles and real‑time AI decision‑making. Amon’s remarks underscore the vision of a world‑wide “radar at scale,” where every moving object is mapped in real time, feeding AI agents with contextual data. He likens the transition from 5G to 6G to the shift from dial‑tone telephony to today’s data‑rich services, suggesting a fundamental redefinition of connectivity as “physical AI.” The implications are profound: personal AI devices—glasses, jewelry, pins—will anticipate user needs, turning devices from reactive tools into proactive partners. Qualcomm’s end‑to‑end stack, spanning chips, networks and data‑center solutions, positions it to dominate the emerging AI‑agent economy and reshape industries from automotive to consumer wearables.

Original Description

For over 40 years, Qualcomm technology has powered some of the world’s most transformational technological advancements. Today, the company is moving beyond smartphones, building a future with wearable AI, humanoid robots, and a 6G cellular network.
In this episode, Fortune’s Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell speaks with Qualcomm’s President and CEO Cristiano Amon to discuss the company’s commitment to constant reinvention and why Amon is optimistic about the AI revolution.
00:00 Introduction
02:55 Intro to Qualcomm
04:36 Current state of AI
07:38 Amon and 6G
13:30 New relationships with smart devices
20:19 What will be the next smartphone
25:49 Diversifying Qualcomm’s business
30:44 Qualcomm’s culture of reinvention
32:08 Qualcomm’s move into data centers
38:17 Qualcomm robotics
42:51 Trust in AI
46:19 Amon’s techno-optimism
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