观点pk，反方：高通和英特尔应该是盟友而不是敌人

伴随全球半导体产业放缓以及竞争对手技术能力提高而带来的竞争压力的增加，高通核心芯片业务正面临严峻挑战。因为主要客户或者改变供应商或者开发自有技术，高通股价经历大跌。

由此带来的悲观情绪让该公司股价在过去12个月里下跌超过32%，与此同时费城半导体指数的降幅只有10%。为提振芯片业务，该公司投入巨资用于技术开发，以提升竞争优势。

然而分析师给高通的建议是应该放缓向领先的边缘处理器方向推进的步伐以帮助提高投资回报率，并给出强有力的四大理由。

QUALCOMM Inc ‘s(NASDAQ:QCOM) core chipmaking business has witnessed some heavy weather in the form of a global slowdown in the semiconductor space coupled with increasing competitive pressures as rivals ramp up their technological capabilities. The company’s market share has declined as major clients either change suppliers or move toward developing in house technologies.

This has driven up bearish sentiment toward the company’s stock that has declined by more than 32% in the past twelve months while the PHLX Semiconductor Index has only gone down by 10%. In a bid to revive its chip manufacturing business Qualcomm has invested heavily in developing its technologies to attain a competitive edge in the market.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley estimate that more than half of the $8.5 billion growth in Qualcomm’s Research and Development expense along with cost of goods sold over the past five years reflects the company move to bring its smaller semiconductor geometries at par with that of Intel Corporation (INASDAQ:INTC) following the latters entry in mobile processors market in 2010.

These analysts however believe that Qualcomm should ease up on its ongoing push toward leading edge geometries as it could improve its overall return on investments. The firm has presented four compelling reasons in this regard.

Firstly according to Morgan Stanley, Qualcomm has already caught up with Intel.

Analysts at the firm note that while Intel has increased its capital expenditure to attain a multiple nod advantage in comparison to Qualcomm, the latter has also managed to subsequently bring its technology at par through continued increase in R&D expense and COGS.

Secondly the firm is of the opinion that the overall market for leading edge processors is actually smaller than previously though to be and may also be declining. According to the firm’s thesis the total addressable market for Qualcomm in high-end handsets has decreased to 200 million last year from 284 million in 2011. The major cause for this is market share gains by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) that incorporates its own application processors .

Thirdly Qualcomm’s margins could be heavily dented if the company continues to invest in an area that doesn’t have a total addressable market to begin with. Morgan Stanley highlights that compared to a $8.5 billion growth in R&D expenses and COGS since 2010, revenue has only seen an increase of $8.8 billion.

Lastly the firm notes that third party baseband investments will continue to decline this year. As such the firm believes that Qualcomm should instead move toward a strategic partnership with Intel. Analysts at Morgan Stanley believe that a partnership such as this could be incremental to the company’s EPS outlook.

参见正方观点：英特尔就对了">高通、谷歌联手搞垮英特尔就对了