Qualcomm Hires Top Lenovo Exec To Lead PC, Phone And AI Device Businesses

The chip designer hires the former leader of Motorola, the smartphone business owned by Lenovo since 2014, as it seeks to expand its business beyond chipsets for mobile devices into product segments ranging from PCs and data centers to robotics and networking.

Qualcomm said Thursday that it has hired the former president of Lenovo’s Motorola division to lead the businesses for its PC, smartphone and mixed reality device chips as it seeks to tap into the channel to diversify its revenue.

The San Diego-based company said the Lenovo executive, Sergio Buniac, will start on Sept. 2 as executive vice president and group general manager of mobile, compute and personal AI. He will also be responsible for chips that go inside smart wearables as well as what the company called “a new generation of AI devices.”

The hire was made as Qualcomm makes a push against Intel and AMD in the channel under new sales leadership to grow its small footprint in the PC market. In February, the chip designer hired AMD executive Jason Banta to lead global compute sales after two channel leaders focused on its Snapdragon PC chips departed in the prior six months.

Partner Sees Potential For Qualcomm With Edge AI

Qualcomm’s PC initiative is part of a broader push by the company to diversify its business beyond chipsets for mobile devices, where it makes most of its revenue today. By its 2029 fiscal year, Qualcomm expects to generate $40 billion in revenue from products for data centers, PCs, robots, networking, industrial systems and automotive.

The company’s strength in power management, which helped it become known for energy-efficient chips in smartphones, could help it succeed in these emerging product areas, particularly as it relates to AI, according to Christopher Cyr, CTO of North Sioux City, S.D.-based Qualcomm systems integration partner Sterling Computers.

“They’ve had to do it with tablets. They’ve had to do it with phones. And with all this new AI at the edge, these edge devices, I think they’re sitting on a really interesting pivot,” the solution provider executive told CRN on Monday.

Buniac Fills Vacancy Left By Exec Who Went To Intel

In his new role at Qualcomm, Buniac is filling a vacancy left by Alex Katouzian, a 23-year company veteran who departed the chip designer in May to join Intel as the leader of its newly named Client Computing and Physical AI Group.

Like Katouzian before him, Buniac will report directly to Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon and focus on driving business for the chip designer’s Snapdragon platforms, particularly as it relates to experiences enabled by agentic AI, according to the chip designer.

While Buniac had spent many years as the president of Lenovo’s Motorola mobile device business, the company changed his role in April to the leader of its Latin America division. But it was the executive’s experience within Motorola that Qualcomm is hoping to tap into.

“Sergio is a proven business leader with more than 30 years of experience in the mobile industry,” the CEO said in a statement.

“He has a strong record of driving innovation, transforming and growing businesses, and leading through significant industry transitions,” he added. “Sergio also brings expertise in building compelling consumer devices from design to commercialization, globally.”

A Lenovo spokesperson told CRN that the company wishes Buniac “the very best in his next chapter at Qualcomm and look[s] forward to continuing our long-standing partnership.”

“We have strong leadership in place to build on our momentum and drive continued growth across our full-stack portfolio of devices, infrastructure, and services,” the representative said in an emailed statement.