TechPulse USA

By TechPulse USA Newsroom Qualcomm's headquarters in San Diego, California. Photo: Coolcaesar via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). Most CEOs bury layoffs in layers of corporate euphemism. Qualcomm's Cristiano Amon went a bolder route: he blamed the workforce. On Monday, October 19, he sent an internal memo to staff — reviewed by Reuters — announcing that Qualcomm "will cut jobs globally in a 'performance-focused reduction'" following its annual employee reviews, with notifications to affected employees beginning in November 2026. The reason stated in the memo wasn't a downturn, or cost pressure, or any of the usual macroeconomic suspects. It was, essentially, the people: the cuts are part of an effort to build "a stronger performance culture" and address situations where the company "has consistently fallen short of expectations," Amon wrote. Read that again. A $44 billion chip giant is not cutting jobs because times are tough. ...

By the TechPulse USA Newsroom — 14 October 2026 Two dollars. That is what a Delaware jury decided Qualcomm's second courtroom war with Arm was worth — one dollar for intentional interference, one dollar for negligent interference, and nothing at all for the breach it also found. Both companies declared victory within hours. Both were, in their own way, telling the truth. And neither got what it actually came for. The verdict, returned on Tuesday 13 October 2026 in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, closed a five-day trial that was the second in two years between two companies that used to be the closest of partners. The jury found that Arm breached its long-standing Architectural License Agreement (ALA) with Qualcomm. It found that Arm intentionally and negligently interfered with Qualcomm's business relationship with Meta Platforms. And then it awarded Qualcomm nominal damages of just $2. If that reads like a contradiction, it is the most honest verdict this feud has pr...

MediaTek just fired its most serious shot yet at Qualcomm's dominance of the premium smartphone. On Tuesday, the Taiwanese chip designer unveiled the Dimensity 9600 Pro — its first mobile processor built on TSMC's cutting-edge 2-nanometer manufacturing process — alongside the Dimensity 9600M, a 3nm sibling aimed at the broader flagship market. It is a direct challenge to the American chip giant on the most advanced silicon manufacturing technology in commercial use. The launch, reported by Reuters on September 15, is part of a deliberate campaign to move MediaTek upmarket. For years the company thrived in mid-range phones; now it wants the high-margin flagship tier where Qualcomm has long reigned — and where AI features are becoming the battleground. The Dimensity 9600 Pro is MediaTek's first mobile processor built on TSMC's 2-nanometer process. (Original TechPulse USA illustration; all rights reserved.) What was announced Two chips, one strategy. The Dimensity 960...