Qualcomm CEO discusses agentic AI at Computex

Cristiano Amon used Qualcomm’s June 1 Computex keynote in Taipei to argue that agentic AI is moving from chat interfaces into devices, cars, robots and other edge systems. Qualcomm labeled the presentation “The Year of Agents” in its Computex 2026 press kit and said the keynote showed how it is enabling agentic AI “across the entire compute continuum.” CNET separately posted a short video summary of the keynote on June 1, saying Amon described agentic AI as reshaping mobile, robotics, automotive and data-center computing. ### What exactly did Amon say at Computex? Cristiano Amon said in the keynote that “2026 is the year of the agent,” according to CNET’s video summary and Mobile World Live’s report from the event. Mobile World Live said Amon described AI as moving from prompt-based systems to software that can “plan, reason and act” across smartphones, PCs, cars, robots and industrial equipment. (qualcomm.com) Qualcomm’s own event materials match that framing. The company’s Computex 2026 press kit says the June 1 keynote was built around “The Year of Agents,” and Qualcomm’s homepage says the keynote showed how the company is enabling agentic AI across its platforms. ### Why is Qualcomm pushing on-device agents so hard? Qualcomm’s public AI materials say the company is making the case for AI that runs on devices because of latency, privacy, reliability and power efficiency. (youtube.com) Its AI products page says more demanding workloads, including “coordinated agents,” strain centralized infrastructure and that Qualcomm platforms are designed to distribute work across devices, edge systems and cloud infrastructure. (qualcomm.com) A Qualcomm developer post published on May 26 made the same argument in more concrete terms. That post said enterprise agentic workflows increasingly need to run “closer to the data,” and described local, multi-step workflows on Snapdragon X Series PCs using Qualcomm Hexagon NPUs and smaller language models without cloud dependency. (qualcomm.com) ### Where do robotics and cars fit into this pitch? Qualcomm has been tying agentic AI to robotics and automotive throughout 2026. Its CES 2026 press kit said Snapdragon Cockpit Elite and Snapdragon Ride Elite were designed to bring “embodied and agentic intelligence” to cockpit and driver-assistance systems, and it highlighted an expanded automotive collaboration with Google. (qualcomm.com) On the robotics side, Qualcomm’s Computex press kit linked the keynote to a June 2 forum session led by Nakul Duggal on “Industrial & Physical AI at the Edge” and to a June 1 blog post introducing the Dragonwing IQ10 RRD, which Qualcomm described as a full-stack robotics reference design. Those materials show the company pairing its keynote message with product and developer programs for physical AI systems. (qualcomm.com) ### How does this connect to Qualcomm’s PC and device business? Qualcomm’s PC roadmap is part of the same story. The company says Snapdragon X2 Elite processors are built for concurrent AI experiences and list 80 to 85 TOPS of NPU performance depending on configuration. Qualcomm’s desktop and laptop materials say those chips are meant to support Copilot+ features and agentic assistants directly on device. (qualcomm.com) The company has also been extending that message beyond phones and laptops. Qualcomm’s AI products page says its platforms support AI from “the devices on your wrist and at your front door” to automotive, robotics, industrial systems and data centers, and it says more than 4.3 billion AI-capable chips have shipped. ### What should readers watch next? Qualcomm’s next Computex sessions are scheduled for June 2 and June 3. (qualcomm.com) Nakul Duggal’s June 2 forum focused on industrial and physical AI at the edge, and Kedar Kondap’s June 3 session is billed as “The Rise of Personal AI Devices,” according to the company’s press kit. Qualcomm also said a replay of Amon’s keynote and related materials are available through its Computex 2026 press hub. (qualcomm.com 1) (qualcomm.com 2)