Cristiano Amon has been president and chief executive of Qualcomm since June 2021, when he succeeded Steve Mollenkopf. A Brazilian-born electrical engineer who earned his degree at UNICAMP in 1992, he first joined Qualcomm in 1996 to expand its Latin American business, left for stints at Ericsson and Brazilian telecom Vesper, and rejoined in 2004, rising through the chip division to become president in 2018 and then CEO.
Amon runs the company whose Snapdragon processors and modems power most of the world's Android smartphones, along with a licensing business built on Qualcomm's foundational cellular patents that levies royalties across the mobile industry. Under Amon, Qualcomm has pushed aggressively to diversify into automotive, PC, industrial, and AI-edge silicon, anchored by the $1.4 billion 2021 acquisition of chip-design startup Nuvia and its custom Oryon CPU cores. That bet triggered a multi-year legal war with Arm Holdings, which Qualcomm largely won: a December 2024 jury verdict upheld its right to use Nuvia's designs, and Arm dropped its last claim in October 2025.
His pay tracks the scale of the platform he controls. Amon's fiscal 2025 compensation rose about 15% to roughly $29.7 million even as Qualcomm's net income fell 45% to $5.5 billion, putting his pay at roughly 292 times that of the company's median employee. In 2025 he was named to TIME's list of the 100 most influential people in AI, and Qualcomm has continued to expand through deals including the roughly $2.4 billion purchase of Alphawave Semi.
What they control
- Qualcomm, the dominant supplier of smartphone application processors and modems for the global Android ecosystem
- The Snapdragon chip platform now spanning phones, PCs, cars, and extended-reality devices
- Nuvia and its Oryon custom CPU cores, the foundation of Qualcomm's push into PCs and AI-edge computing
- A patent-licensing business that charges royalties on cellular technology across the mobile industry
- A rapidly growing automotive and IoT chip franchise embedding Qualcomm silicon in connected vehicles and devices
- Influence over U.S. semiconductor and trade policy as a past chair of the Semiconductor Industry Association and a member of the President's Export Council
Key institutions & holdings
World's largest supplier of smartphone chipsets and a leader in cellular patent licensing.
$1.4 billion 2021 acquisition that gave Qualcomm custom Arm-based CPU cores for PCs and edge devices.
Trade group representing U.S. chip-industry interests in Washington.
Key facts
- Born June 21, 1970 in Campinas, Brazil; earned an electrical engineering degree from UNICAMP in 1992.
- First hired by Qualcomm in 1996, rejoined in 2004, became president in 2018, and CEO in June 2021.
- Led Qualcomm's $1.4 billion acquisition of Nuvia in 2021 to build custom Oryon CPU cores.
- Fiscal 2025 pay rose about 15% to roughly $29.7 million while Qualcomm's net income fell 45% to $5.5 billion.
- His fiscal 2025 compensation was roughly 292 times Qualcomm's median employee pay.
- Named to TIME's 100 Most Influential People in AI in 2025.
Timeline
- 1992Earns an electrical engineering degree from UNICAMP in Brazil.
- 1996First hired by Qualcomm to help expand its business in Latin America.
- 2004Rejoins Qualcomm after stints at Ericsson and Brazilian telecom Vesper.
- 2018Appointed president of Qualcomm by CEO Steve Mollenkopf.
- 2021-06Becomes CEO of Qualcomm, succeeding Mollenkopf; closes the $1.4B Nuvia acquisition.
- 2024-12Qualcomm wins a jury verdict against Arm over its right to use Nuvia's chip designs.
- 2025-10Arm drops its last remaining legal claim against Qualcomm.
- 2026-01Fiscal 2025 pay disclosed at about $29.7 million, up 15% as net income fell 45%.
Controversies
Arm licensing war · 2022-2025
Qualcomm's $1.4 billion Nuvia acquisition sparked a lawsuit from Arm Holdings over whether Nuvia's architecture licenses transferred to Qualcomm. Qualcomm largely prevailed in a December 2024 jury verdict, and Arm dropped its last claim in October 2025.
Executive pay amid falling profit · 2025
Amon's fiscal 2025 compensation rose about 15% to roughly $29.7 million even as Qualcomm's net income fell 45%, a pay package about 292 times the company's median worker pay.
Customer and China concentration · 2024-2025
Qualcomm draws a large share of revenue from a handful of smartphone makers and from the Chinese market, exposing a foundational chip supplier to geopolitical and single-customer risk as it diversifies into autos and AI.
Network
- Steve MollenkopfPredecessor and mentorFormer Qualcomm CEO who elevated Amon to president in 2018 and handed him the CEO role in 2021.
- Rene HaasAdversaryCEO of Arm Holdings, which fought Qualcomm in a multi-year licensing lawsuit over the Nuvia acquisition.
- Irwin JacobsCompany co-founderCo-founded Qualcomm, building the patent-licensing and chip franchise Amon now runs.
Why this matters
Qualcomm's chips and cellular patents sit underneath most of the world's smartphones and a fast-growing share of cars, PCs, and connected devices, so the choices Amon makes about pricing, licensing, and which markets to serve ripple through the cost and capability of everyday technology. Concentrated control of foundational mobile and AI-edge silicon gives one company outsized leverage over device makers and over U.S. semiconductor and trade policy, where Amon is an influential voice. When a single firm sits at that chokepoint, its commercial and geopolitical decisions help determine what billions of users can do and how much they pay.