Cristiano Renno Amon
Summary
Cristiano Renno Amon has led QUALCOMM as President, Chief Executive Officer and director since June 2021 after a long career in the company’s engineering, product and semiconductor businesses.
Biography
Amon joined Qualcomm in 1995 as an engineer and later held a series of technical and management roles. He became President of Qualcomm in January 2018, after serving as an executive vice president and as a senior leader of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies, the company’s semiconductor business. Before becoming CEO, he was closely involved in Qualcomm’s Snapdragon product roadmap and semiconductor strategy. As president and CEO, Amon has emphasized expanding Qualcomm beyond smartphones into automotive, industrial IoT, personal computing, networking and artificial intelligence. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and an honorary doctorate from the State University of Campinas in Brazil. He has also served on Adobe’s board of directors since 2023.
Notable achievements
- Helped shape and commercialize Qualcomm’s 5G product strategy and global rollout.
- Led efforts to diversify Qualcomm into automotive, IoT, PC and other connected-computing markets.
- Oversaw the $1.4 billion acquisition of Nuvia, adding custom CPU technology that became part of Qualcomm’s computing roadmap.
- During fiscal 2025, Qualcomm reported record QCT revenue, with combined automotive and IoT revenue growth of 27% year over year.
- Supported expanded shareholder returns, including a March 2026 dividend increase and a new $20 billion stock-repurchase authorization.
Problem areas / controversies
- Apple has been developing more of its own modem technology, creating a continuing risk to a major Qualcomm customer relationship and a significant source of modem revenue.
- Qualcomm faced a high-profile licensing dispute with Arm over technology obtained through the Nuvia acquisition; Qualcomm prevailed in the U.S. litigation, but Arm said it planned to appeal.
- The 2023 smartphone downturn led Qualcomm to pursue cost reductions and restructuring while Amon was CEO.
- Chinese regulators opened an antitrust investigation in 2025 related to Qualcomm’s acquisition of automotive chip company Autotalks; the investigation concerned the company, not established personal misconduct by Amon.