New York, Feb 16, 2026, 19:06 EST — The market has closed.
- QUALCOMM Incorporated finished Friday’s session at $140.70, gaining 1.6% by the close.
- U.S. markets won’t open on Monday because of Washington’s Birthday; they’ll resume trading Tuesday.
- Memory-chip supply hints are on investors’ radar, along with the Fed minutes coming up Feb. 18 and U.S. PCE inflation data due Feb. 20. Looking ahead, Mobile World Congress kicks off in early March.
QUALCOMM Incorporated (QCOM.O) heads into Tuesday’s session facing its next hurdle, with U.S. markets set to reopen following the Presidents Day break. The stock wrapped up Friday at $140.70, a 1.6% gain. (MarketWatch, 7 )
Timing’s key here: chip shares have been moving on every supply-chain update and shifts in rate expectations, with Monday’s holiday draining liquidity from the market. Global markets barely budged in the thin trading, and U.S. stock futures managed a small gain, according to Reuters, teeing up a fresh start for Tuesday’s cash session. 1
Qualcomm is still feeling the sting from its early-February alert on memory shortages. The chipmaker’s forecast for second-quarter revenue landed between $10.2 billion and $11.0 billion—missing the $11.12 billion analysts were expecting. CEO Cristiano Amon summed up the problem to Reuters: “I’m very happy with the business – I just wish we had more memory.” Bob O’Donnell, analyst at TECHnalysis Research, described the fallout as widespread: “Qualcomm’s expecting to be impacted by the worldwide memory crunch for the next several quarters.” 2
Just a day after, Qualcomm and Arm both highlighted the memory crunch, though from their own vantage points: device makers struggling to get enough memory means fewer finished phones hit the market. “Industry-wide memory shortage and price increases are likely to define the overall scale of the handset industry through the fiscal year,” Amon said on the call. eToro analyst Zavier Wong called the latest figures “largely reflect broader industry trends rather than Qualcomm-specific issues.” 3
So traders are left chasing scraps—adjustments to allocation, shipping data, whatever they can find—instead of waiting for one clear headline. Qualcomm’s phone-chip segment depends on the production plans of handset manufacturers, not simply on end-user demand.
Mobile World Congress lands in Barcelona from March 2-5, marking a major date for modem and connectivity vendors. Qualcomm, in particular, gets a rare shot here to air its latest product plans and partnerships out in public. 4
Amon is set for a keynote on March 3 called “Architects of the AI Age,” per the agenda. What investors want: specifics on 6G timing, on-device AI, and any hints that Qualcomm isn’t just stuck talking about phones. 5
Macro factors could be in play across the board. The Federal Reserve’s Jan. 27-28 meeting minutes hit on Wednesday, while the BEA is set to publish the Fed’s go-to inflation measure — the personal consumption expenditures price index — on Friday, Feb. 20, per the Fed’s own calendar and the BEA’s release schedule. (Federal Reserve FOMC calendar, 8 )
Apple’s next moves on pricing could shake up the smartphone supply chain with memory still tight. “We’ve seen several OEMs (device makers), especially in China, take actions to reduce their handset build plans and channel inventory,” Qualcomm finance chief Akash Palkhiwala said earlier this month. 6
The risk is clear enough: persistent memory tightness through 2027 could drag handset build plans lower, especially in the mid- and low-tier segments, where price hikes trigger buyer pullbacks fastest. Qualcomm isn’t just dealing with that—customers are pushing harder into in-house chip design, and the Android landscape is getting even more crowded. That makes it tough for premium demand to fully make up for sliding volumes in other parts of the business.
Qualcomm holders still face the same question this Tuesday they’ve been mulling for two weeks: is the memory story truly improving, or just becoming routine. The next set of concrete signals comes with the Feb. 18 Fed minutes and Amon’s March 3 MWC keynote.
