QUALCOMM Incorporated (QCOM)
Chip designer, 52,000 workers, mostly engineering roles. Read October 2, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending September 28, 2025, filed November 5, 2025. Ranked 36 of the 38 Technology companies read so far, by the share within reach now.
Within reach now
17%
End of 2028
44%
Employees, annual report
52,000
Leading staffing pattern
Semiconductor and Other Electronic Component Manufacturing
Share of the working time within reach, long-run pace, four times in five
- Now17%
- End of 202734%
- End of 202844%
- End of 203049%
What changes for its people by the end of 2028, by its industries' figures
- Stays with people 48%
- Becomes checking a model's work 41%
- Handed over with lighter checks 5%
The filing states one count of workers and that most are in engineering or technical roles, nothing else by kind of work, so one semiconductor pattern by description (c), flagged.
The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
What follows from the reading
Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 17% now, 34% at the end of 2027, 44% at the end of 2028, 49% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 49% desk work, 14% people work and 37% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 48% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 41% becomes checking a model's work and 5% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
52,000 employees as of September 28, 2025 (stated). Over 200 locations in 38 countries; no count by country.
The filing: “At September 28, 2025, we had approximately 52,000 full-time, part-time and temporary workers, the overwhelming majority of which were full-time employees.”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| Semiconductor and Other Electronic Component Manufacturing | 100% | The company develops and commercializes chips and wireless technologies (QCT 87% of revenue) and licenses them (QTL 13%); the filing says the substantial majority work in engineering or technical roles and states nothing else by kind of work, so one pattern by description (c). |
What the filing says about the workforce: About 52,000 full-time, part-time and temporary workers, the overwhelming majority full-time, in over 200 locations in 38 countries; the substantial majority in engineering or technical roles; voluntary turnover about 6% in fiscal 2025.
Companies read with the same leading pattern
Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Semiconductor and Other Electronic Component Manufacturing, largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Amphenol Corporation (APH, 170,000 employees)17% now, 44% by 2028
- Flex Ltd. (FLEX, 149,686 employees)17% now, 46% by 2028
- Jabil Inc. (JBL, 135,000 employees)17% now, 46% by 2028
- TE Connectivity plc (TEL, 93,000 employees)17% now, 44% by 2028
- Intel Corp. (INTC, 85,100 employees)17% now, 44% by 2028
- Micron Technology, Inc. (MU, 53,000 employees)17% now, 44% by 2028
- Coherent, Inc. (COHR, 51,000 employees)17% now, 44% by 2028
- NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA, 42,000 employees)17% now, 44% by 2028
What the filing says about AI
58 sentences in the filing name AI. Fifty-eight sentences: on-device AI among the foundational technologies the company develops and commercializes, AI and machine learning techniques among its technologies, and AI in talent development and in risk language.
- “Overview We are a global technology leader, helping to bring intelligent computing everywhere through the development and commercialization of foundational technologies, including on-device artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance and low-power computing and advanced wireless connectivity.”
- “We have also developed other technologies that are used by wireless and other devices that are not related to industry standards, such as user interfaces, graphics and image processing functionality, RF (radio frequency), RFFE (radio frequency front-end) and antenna designs, AI and machine learning techniques and application processor architectures, among other technologies.”
- “On-device AI, high-performance, low-power computing and advanced wireless connectivity technologies are also impacting many industries beyond mobile, empowering new services, new business models and new ways to engage and interact with customers.”
- “With increased processing power, smartphones and PCs are becoming pervasive AI platforms, with complex, large generative AI algorithms running on-device, enabling on-demand and contextual AI use cases at a fraction of the energy required by cloud-based applications.”
- “As wireless connectivity complements on-device generative AI, edge devices enable enhanced productivity use cases, while intelligently processing and sharing data with cloud-based applications as needed.”
Its annual reports, year by year
Sentences naming AI in each annual report, counted by one rule, beside the median report in the Index that year. Each count links its filing. Every company, by year and sector
- Fiscal 202113median 0
- Fiscal 202215median 0
- Fiscal 202331median 1
- Fiscal 202445median 4
- Fiscal 202558median 10
Headcount by filing year
As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.
| Period | Employees | Filed | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-09-28 | 52,000 | 2025-11-05 | 10-K |
| 2024-09-29 | 49,000 | 2024-11-06 | 10-K |
| 2023-09-24 | 50,000 | 2023-11-01 | 10-K |
| 2022-09-25 | 51,000 | 2022-11-02 | 10-K |
| 2021-09-26 | 45,000 | 2021-11-03 | 10-K |
| 2020-09-27 | 41,000 | 2020-11-04 | 10-K |
| 2019-09-29 | 37,000 | 2019-11-06 | 10-K |
| 2018-09-30 | 35,400 | 2018-11-07 | 10-K |
| 2017-09-24 | 33,800 | 2017-11-01 | 10-K |
| 2016-09-25 | 30,500 | 2016-11-02 | 10-K |
| 2015-09-27 | 33,000 | 2015-11-04 | 10-K |
| 2014-09-28 | 31,300 | 2014-11-05 | 10-K |
| 2013-09-29 | 31,000 | 2013-11-06 | 10-K |
| 2012-09-30 | 26,600 | 2012-11-07 | 10-K |
| 2011-09-25 | 21,200 | 2011-11-02 | 10-K |
| 2010-09-26 | 17,500 | 2010-11-03 | 10-K |
| 2009-09-27 | 16,100 | 2009-11-05 | 10-K |
| 2008-09-28 | 15,400 | 2008-11-06 | 10-K |
| 2007-09-30 | 12,800 | 2007-11-08 | 10-K |
| 2006-09-24 | 11,200 | 2006-11-02 | 10-K |
| 2005-09-25 | 9,300 | 2005-11-02 | 10-K |
| 2004-09-26 | 7,600 | 2004-11-03 | 10-K |
| 2003-09-28 | 7,400 | 2003-11-05 | 10-K |
| 2002-09-29 | 8,100 | 2002-11-26 | 10-K |
| 2001-09-30 | 6,500 | 2001-11-09 | 10-K |
| 2000-09-24 | 6,300 | 2000-11-03 | 10-K |
| 1999-09-26 | 9,700 | 1999-11-17 | 10-K405 |
| 1998-09-27 | 11,600 | 1998-11-23 | 10-K |
| 1997-09-28 | 9,000 | 1997-12-03 | 10-K405 |
| 1996-09-29 | 6,000 | 1996-12-03 | 10-K |
Limits of this reading
- The filing says the substantial majority are in engineering or technical roles; the semiconductor pattern's production share may overstate production work here.
- No count by country.
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0000804328-25-000085, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Questions about this company
- How much of QUALCOMM Incorporated's working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 17% now and 44% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce QUALCOMM Incorporated's own annual report describes and BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. It is an estimate with a stated method. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings, and it says nothing about what the company will do.
- How many people does QUALCOMM Incorporated employ?
- 52,000 as of September 28, 2025, as its annual report for the period ending September 28, 2025 states.
- What kinds of work make up QUALCOMM Incorporated's workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 1 industry staffing pattern, the largest Semiconductor and Other Electronic Component Manufacturing; by those patterns the work is about 49% desk work, 14% people work and 37% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does QUALCOMM Incorporated's annual report say about AI?
- 58 sentences in the filing name AI. Its annual reports for fiscal 2021 to 2025 name it in 13, 15, 31, 45 and 58 sentences, year by year. They are counted and quoted on this page, never judged: a count says how much a filing talks about AI, not what the company does with it.
- How is this estimated?
- Claude Fable 5.1 read the annual report under the Index's written rubric (version 1) on October 2, 2026: the stated headcount, the share in the U.S. when stated, and the workforce as a blend of industry staffing patterns. The estimates are the site's industry estimates weighted by those shares, from O*NET tasks with estimated lengths and METR's measurements of how long a task AI models can finish. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.