Stacking Qualcomm against its closest chip rivals on revenue growth, profitability, and valuation is one of the clearest ways to judge whether the stock deserves a premium or a discount. A proper Qualcomm vs competitors breakdown forces you to weigh each company's strengths in mobile, data center, automotive, and IoT rather than relying on a single headline number. Here's how QCOM lines up against MediaTek, Broadcom, and Nvidia across the dimensions that matter most.
Key takeaways
- Qualcomm's mobile dominance is real, but its revenue concentration in smartphones is both a strength and a vulnerability when you compare Qualcomm to competitors with more diversified revenue streams.
- Margins vary widely across QCOM vs peers: Nvidia commands premium gross margins from GPU pricing power, Broadcom benefits from sticky enterprise contracts, and MediaTek competes on cost.
- Valuation multiples alone don't tell the story. You need to pair them with growth rates and reinvestment needs to make a fair Qualcomm peer comparison.
- Competitive moats differ in kind, not just degree. Licensing portfolios, design wins, ecosystem lock-in, and manufacturing relationships each create different types of durability.
- Every company in this comparison carries distinct risks, from customer concentration to geopolitical exposure to cyclical demand swings.
Why does a Qualcomm vs competitors comparison matter?
Chip companies look similar on the surface. They all design semiconductors, report fat gross margins, and ride the same macro cycles. But the differences in business model, end-market exposure, and pricing power are enormous. Comparing Qualcomm to competitors like MediaTek, Broadcom, and Nvidia on the same set of dimensions gives you a framework for deciding which company has the strongest position for your research thesis.
The trap most investors fall into is comparing headline revenue growth without adjusting for where that growth comes from. A dollar of recurring licensing revenue is worth more than a dollar of cyclical handset chip revenue, and a dollar of data center GPU revenue priced into a sky-high multiple carries different risk than a dollar of diversified infrastructure revenue. That nuance is what makes this comparison worth doing carefully.
You can pull up the Qualcomm stock page on Rallies.ai to see how its financial profile stacks up in real time as you work through this framework.
Revenue growth: How do QCOM vs peers stack up?
Revenue growth is the starting point, but context matters more than the raw number.
Qualcomm's revenue trajectory is tied heavily to the global smartphone cycle. When handset demand surges, QCOM benefits on two fronts: chip sales (QCT segment) and licensing royalties (QTL segment). When the smartphone market flatlines or contracts, both segments feel it. Qualcomm has been working to diversify into automotive, IoT, and PC processors, but smartphones still represent the majority of revenue.
MediaTek competes directly with Qualcomm in mobile chips but focuses more on the mid-range and budget segments. Its growth tends to track emerging-market smartphone adoption and the sheer volume of Android devices. MediaTek's revenue growth can be impressive in unit terms, but average selling prices are lower, which limits revenue per chip.
Broadcom is a different animal. Its revenue growth is steadier because it sells into enterprise networking, broadband, storage, and increasingly into custom AI accelerators for hyperscale data centers. Growth might not spike as dramatically, but it rarely collapses either. Broadcom's acquisition-driven strategy also means organic growth numbers need careful parsing.
Nvidia's revenue growth has been in a class of its own during periods of AI infrastructure buildout. Data center GPU demand can produce growth rates that make every other chipmaker look sleepy. The question is sustainability: GPU demand is lumpy, driven by capital expenditure cycles at a handful of hyperscale customers.
Revenue concentration risk: When a large share of a company's revenue comes from a single end market or a small group of customers, any slowdown in that area hits disproportionately hard. Qualcomm's smartphone exposure and Nvidia's data center reliance are both examples of this dynamic.
What growth rate should you compare?
Single-year growth rates are noisy. A better approach is to look at three-to-five-year compound annual growth rates and compare them to the growth implied by each stock's valuation multiple. If a company is priced for 20% annual growth but has historically delivered 10%, that gap is a red flag. If it's priced for 10% but has been delivering 15%, that's interesting.
Profit margins: Where Qualcomm's licensing moat shows up
Gross margins reveal pricing power. Operating margins reveal operational efficiency. Comparing both across this peer group tells you a lot about each company's competitive position.
Qualcomm's QTL licensing segment is essentially pure margin. The company holds foundational patents on wireless communication standards (3G, 4G, 5G), and virtually every smartphone manufacturer pays Qualcomm a royalty. This licensing revenue has gross margins that dwarf what any chip-selling business can achieve. The QCT chip segment, by contrast, has solid but more typical semiconductor margins. Blended together, Qualcomm's overall margin profile is strong but heavily influenced by how much licensing revenue contributes in any given period.
Nvidia's gross margins have expanded significantly during periods of GPU scarcity and high demand. When data center customers are competing for allocation, Nvidia can price aggressively. In more balanced supply environments, margins are still healthy but not as extraordinary. The key question is whether Nvidia's software ecosystem (CUDA) creates enough lock-in to sustain premium pricing long term.
Broadcom tends to report consistent, high gross margins because its products are embedded deep in enterprise infrastructure. Switching costs are high, contracts are long, and customers prioritize reliability over price. This makes Broadcom's margin profile arguably the most predictable in the group.
MediaTek operates with lower gross margins because it competes more on price, especially in the mid-range smartphone segment. It wins on volume and design efficiency rather than premium pricing. That's not necessarily bad, but it means MediaTek's margin expansion path depends on moving up-market or entering higher-margin segments like automotive and Wi-Fi connectivity.
Gross margin vs. operating margin: Gross margin measures how much profit a company keeps after manufacturing costs. Operating margin also subtracts R&D and selling expenses. In semiconductors, R&D spending is massive, so a company with high gross margins but heavy R&D investment might have a thinner operating margin than you'd expect.
How do you compare Qualcomm to competitors on valuation?
Valuation is where the Qualcomm peer comparison gets interesting, because each company's multiple reflects different expectations about future growth and margin stability.
The standard approach is to compare price-to-earnings (P/E) ratios, but that's incomplete. Semiconductor earnings are cyclical, so a low P/E might mean the stock is cheap or it might mean earnings are at a cyclical peak and about to decline. Similarly, a high P/E might reflect overvaluation or it might reflect a trough in earnings with recovery ahead.
A more useful framework combines several multiples:
- Forward P/E: What's the market paying per dollar of expected future earnings? Compare across all four companies using consensus estimates as a starting point, then form your own view.
- EV/EBITDA: Enterprise value divided by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. This strips out capital structure differences and gives a cleaner comparison for companies with different debt levels (Broadcom, for example, has historically carried more debt from acquisitions).
- PEG ratio: P/E divided by expected earnings growth rate. This adjusts for the fact that faster-growing companies deserve higher multiples. A PEG near 1.0 suggests fair value relative to growth; above 2.0 suggests the market is paying a steep premium.
- Price-to-free-cash-flow: Especially relevant for Broadcom and Qualcomm, which generate significant free cash flow that funds buybacks and dividends.
Nvidia typically trades at the highest multiples in this group because the market prices in rapid AI-driven growth. Broadcom often commands a premium for its consistency and cash generation. Qualcomm tends to trade at a discount to both, partly because of smartphone cyclicality and partly because of ongoing patent litigation uncertainty. MediaTek usually trades at the lowest multiples among these four, reflecting its lower margins and emerging-market exposure.
You can use the Rallies.ai Vibe Screener to filter semiconductor stocks by valuation metrics and see where QCOM falls relative to the broader chip universe.
Competitive moat: What protects each company?
This is where the qualitative analysis matters as much as the numbers. Each company in this comparison has a different type of moat, and those moats have different durability.
Qualcomm's moat
Qualcomm's most durable advantage is its patent portfolio. The QTL licensing business generates revenue regardless of whether Qualcomm wins or loses chip design competitions, because competitors' phones still use Qualcomm's patented wireless technologies. On the chip side, Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors benefit from deep integration with Android ecosystems, carrier certification processes, and years of optimization with mobile software stacks. The moat here is real, but it's under pressure from Apple designing its own modem chips and from MediaTek improving its high-end offerings.
Nvidia's moat
Nvidia's moat is its software ecosystem, primarily CUDA. Developers have built millions of lines of code on CUDA, and switching to AMD's ROCm or other alternatives involves meaningful rewriting and retraining costs. This software lock-in, combined with Nvidia's first-mover advantage in AI training hardware, creates a powerful network effect. The risk is that custom silicon (ASICs built by Broadcom and others for specific hyperscale customers) could chip away at Nvidia's data center share over time.
Broadcom's moat
Broadcom's moat comes from switching costs and deep customer relationships in enterprise networking. Its chips are embedded in routers, switches, and storage systems that enterprises don't replace casually. The custom silicon business (designing AI chips for Google, Meta, and others) adds another layer, though custom chips are designed per customer and require constant re-engagement. Broadcom's acquisition strategy also builds scale advantages that smaller competitors can't match.
MediaTek's moat
MediaTek's competitive advantage is cost efficiency and speed of design iteration. It can produce competitive chips at lower price points, which matters enormously in markets where the average smartphone sells for under $300. MediaTek's moat is thinner in the premium segment, where Qualcomm and Apple dominate, but it's meaningful in the mid-range space that accounts for the majority of global smartphone units.
What are the biggest risks when you compare Qualcomm to competitors?
Every company in this peer group faces specific risks that could erode its competitive position or compress its valuation.
- Qualcomm: Apple's in-house modem development is the most-discussed risk. If Apple successfully replaces Qualcomm modems across its entire product line, QCOM loses its single largest chip customer. Additionally, Qualcomm's licensing revenue faces periodic legal challenges from regulators and licensees who dispute royalty terms. Geopolitical risk is also real, given Qualcomm's manufacturing reliance on TSMC and its significant revenue exposure to China.
- Nvidia: Customer concentration is a risk. A handful of hyperscale companies account for a disproportionate share of data center GPU purchases, and those same companies are investing in custom silicon alternatives. Export restrictions on AI chips to China have already constrained one of Nvidia's largest markets. If AI spending cycles slow or shift toward inference (where Nvidia's dominance is less assured), growth could decelerate faster than the market expects.
- Broadcom: Integration risk from large acquisitions is always present. Broadcom's debt load, while manageable given its cash flow, limits flexibility in downturns. The custom AI chip business, while growing, depends on winning and retaining hyperscale design contracts that come up for renewal. Competition from Marvell and other custom silicon designers is increasing.
- MediaTek: Margin pressure is the chronic risk. Competing on price means MediaTek needs to maintain volume growth to offset lower per-chip revenue. A slowdown in emerging-market smartphone demand or aggressive pricing from Qualcomm in the mid-range segment could squeeze profitability. MediaTek also has less diversification outside of mobile than the other three companies.
Thinking through these risks is part of any serious stock analysis process. The goal isn't to avoid risk entirely but to understand what you're being paid to take on.
How to build your own Qualcomm peer comparison framework
Here's a practical approach you can use to compare Qualcomm to competitors or run a similar analysis on any group of stocks:
- Define the comparison dimensions. Revenue growth, gross margin, operating margin, free cash flow generation, valuation multiples, and qualitative moat assessment. Pick the ones that matter most for your investment thesis.
- Normalize for business model differences. Qualcomm's licensing revenue, Broadcom's acquisition-driven growth, and Nvidia's cyclical GPU demand all distort simple comparisons. Adjust mentally or separate business segments when possible.
- Use ranges, not single numbers. Look at three-to-five-year ranges for margins and growth to smooth out cyclical noise. A single quarter can be misleading.
- Weight moat durability. A wide moat that's eroding (like Qualcomm's Apple relationship) might be worth less than a narrower moat that's strengthening (like Nvidia's CUDA ecosystem). Think about the direction, not just the current width.
- Map risks to probabilities. Not all risks are equally likely. Apple might take three to five more years to fully replace Qualcomm modems, or it might never fully succeed. Assign rough probabilities and think about what happens to the stock in each scenario.
The Rallies AI Research Assistant can help you pull together data on multiple companies simultaneously and frame the comparison in a way that makes sense for your specific questions.
Try it yourself
Want to run this kind of analysis on your own? Copy any of these prompts and paste them into the Rallies AI Research Assistant:
- Compare Qualcomm to its main chip competitors like MediaTek, Broadcom, and Nvidia on revenue growth, profit margins, and competitive moat — which one has the strongest position in mobile and beyond, and what are the biggest risks each one faces?
- Compare Qualcomm to its closest competitors side by side — revenue growth, margins, valuation, and competitive position.
- Break down Qualcomm's QCT and QTL segments and explain how each one compares to the equivalent revenue streams at MediaTek, Broadcom, and Nvidia.
Frequently asked questions
How do QCOM vs peers compare on revenue growth?
Qualcomm's revenue growth is heavily tied to the smartphone replacement cycle, which makes it more volatile than Broadcom's infrastructure-driven growth but typically less explosive than Nvidia's AI-driven surges. MediaTek's growth correlates with emerging-market handset volumes. The best comparison uses three-to-five-year compound growth rates rather than any single quarter.
What makes Qualcomm's licensing business different from its competitors?
Qualcomm's QTL segment collects royalties on foundational wireless patents regardless of which company makes the chip inside a phone. No other company in this peer group has a comparable pure licensing business at this scale. This creates a high-margin revenue floor, though it also attracts regulatory scrutiny and legal disputes.
How do you compare Qualcomm to competitors on valuation?
The most useful approach combines forward P/E, EV/EBITDA, and PEG ratio to adjust for different growth rates and capital structures. Qualcomm typically trades at a discount to Nvidia and Broadcom, reflecting smartphone cyclicality and the Apple modem risk. Context matters more than the raw multiple.
Which Qualcomm competitor has the strongest moat?
It depends on what type of moat you value most. Nvidia's CUDA software ecosystem is arguably the most powerful lock-in right now. Broadcom's enterprise switching costs provide the most predictable revenue. Qualcomm's patent portfolio is the most legally enforceable. MediaTek's cost advantage is the easiest to replicate. Each moat has different durability and different vulnerabilities.
What is the biggest risk in a Qualcomm peer comparison?
The biggest risk for Qualcomm specifically is customer concentration, particularly its chip supply relationship with Apple. For the peer group broadly, geopolitical risk related to semiconductor manufacturing in Taiwan affects all four companies to varying degrees, since all rely on TSMC for at least some of their advanced chip production.
Is Qualcomm a better investment than Nvidia or Broadcom?
"Better" depends entirely on your thesis, time horizon, and risk tolerance. Qualcomm may offer better value on a multiple basis, but Nvidia may offer higher growth potential, and Broadcom may offer more stability. The right answer requires doing your own research and deciding which risk-reward profile matches your goals. Consider consulting a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.
How can I run a Qualcomm peer comparison myself?
Start by defining the metrics that matter to you: growth, margins, valuation, moat, and risk. Pull financial data from each company's public filings or use an AI research tool like Rallies.ai to aggregate and compare the data side by side. Focus on trends over multiple years rather than single data points.
Does MediaTek compete directly with Qualcomm?
Yes, primarily in the mobile processor market. MediaTek has historically focused on mid-range and budget smartphone chips while Qualcomm has dominated the premium segment with its Snapdragon line. The competition is intensifying as MediaTek pushes into higher-end designs and Qualcomm defends its position across more price tiers.
Bottom line
A thorough Qualcomm vs competitors analysis across revenue growth, margins, valuation, moat strength, and risk exposure gives you a much clearer picture than looking at any single company in isolation. Each of these four chipmakers has genuine strengths and real vulnerabilities, and the right conclusion for your portfolio depends on which trade-offs you're willing to accept.
For more frameworks on how to evaluate and compare individual stocks, explore the stock analysis resource hub or start building your own peer comparisons with the Rallies AI Research Assistant.
Disclaimer: This article is for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice, financial advice, trading advice, or any other type of advice. Rallies.ai does not recommend that any security, portfolio of securities, transaction, or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. All investments involve risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Before making any investment decision, consult with a qualified financial advisor and conduct your own research.
Written by Gav Blaxberg, CEO of WOLF Financial and Co-Founder of Rallies.ai.