Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon says the chip designer is building a ‘global retail and commercial channel presence’ for its Snapdragon X processors, which were the first to power the Copilot+ PCs that debuted from Microsoft and other OEMs earlier this year.

Qualcomm is ramping up hiring for key channel sales positions across the world as the chip designer plans to make a larger push into the PC market against Intel and AMD.

The San Diego-based company listed these positions, including North America PC channel distribution manager and multiple commercial channel sales manager roles for various regions in the West, on its public job board over the past several weeks.

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The chip designer is making the hiring push after launching a partner program for its Arm-based Snapdragon X processors earlier this year. The chips debuted in June as the first to power the Copilot+ PCs that debuted from Microsoft and other OEMs, bringing a new wave of competition against Intel and AMD while also giving the Windows PC ecosystem new ammunition against Apple’s Mac computers with custom M-series chips.

“We think we have an opportunity to help educate, train, enable, develop, innovate and create in true partnership and, ultimately, scale laptops powered by Snapdragon X series at the end of the day,” said Kyle Houser, head of global commercial channel at Qualcomm, in an interview with CRN in May.

Qualcomm has listed at least 22 positions related to channel sales and marketing or distribution covering North America and several European countries, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. There are also jobs posted for channel-facing roles in Japan, India and China.

A senior leader at a major U.S. distributor said he is familiar with Qualcomm’s channel strategy and has been impressed with the investments he’s seen so far.

“When I meet with the largest solution providers, all of them say that they’ve had engagement with Qualcomm, and it’s been very solid, and they are very bullish—as the distribution partners are as well—on the programs that they’re rolling out,” said Marty Bauerlein, chief consumer and commercial officer at Harrisburg, Pa.-based D&H Distributing, in an interview with CRN Tuesday.

“So it’s definitely raising some eyebrows and getting attention, and it shows that they’re being very aggressive to try to capture more business,” added Bauerlein, who was previously head of North America VAR channels and commercial distribution at AMD.

Qualcomm Pushes For Commercial Channel Managers

In North America, Qualcomm’s listed positions include commercial channel managers for Western, Midwestern and Eastern regions as well as commercial channel go-to-market managers for the two latter areas. It’s also looking for a consumer channel account manager to cover North America and a commercial channel manager to cover Canada.

In Europe, the company has posted jobs for commercial channel sales managers to cover the U.K., Germany, Nordic countries and Italy or Spain. Other roles listed include commercial channel go-to-market managers for the U.K. and France as well as a commercial distribution sales manager for Western Europe.

Qualcomm has also listed positions for several global channel roles based in the U.S. These roles include director of marketing for global commercial channel, worldwide channel experience manager, business director for enterprise and channel go-to-market, marketing manager for sales enablement, director of marketing for partner programs and senior marketing manager for global partner marketing.

Another role posted by the company is a principal enterprise domain architect for sales and marketing. One of the qualifications for the job is “experience in architecting solutions for managing complex partner ecosystems, including distributors, value-added resellers, and technology alliance partners common in the semiconductor industry.”

Qualcomm Is Building a ‘Global Commercial Channel Presence’

While Qualcomm declined to comment on the job listings, the company’s president and CEO, Cristiano Amon, said at its Investor Day 2024 event last month that the chip designer is building a “global retail and commercial channel presence” for Snapdragon X.

At the same event, Alex Katouzian, Qualcomm’s group general manager of mobile, compute and mixed reality, said the company is working with the “top 40 commercial channel partners in the world,” including Chandler, Ariz.-based Insight Enterprises, which is No. 17 on CRN’s 2024 Solution Provider 500 list.

“These partners are also market makers that have a domino effect on many other companies in the channel,” he said, according to an official transcript.

Katouzian said the company has partnered with more than 500 “top global enterprises” that are testing or deploying Snapdragon X-based devices.

“We take multiple examples of these enterprises and feed them back into the commercial channel partners to help promote Snapdragon across smaller, medium-size businesses and other enterprises,” he added.

As an example of how Qualcomm is engaging the channel, Katouzian said his company has trained more than 500 salespeople at Insight.

“In turn, they’re engaging with over 2,000 businesses,” he said.

Bauerlein, the D&H Distributing executive, said Qualcomm’s work with the world’s top 40 commercial channel partners “is just the beginning” of the company’s channel efforts.

“They’re going to rely on channel partners to start moving down to midmarket and [small to midsize businesses] as well,” he said. “So I think their strategy is spot on, and they’re jumping in fast too, which is a great sign, and it shows commitment.”