Intel, the chipmaker that was once a stock market champion for the technology sector, has been overtaken for the first time in market value by rival Qualcommin a sign of the rapidly changing fortunes of the smartphone and personal computer industries.
Shares in Qualcomm had risen nearly 6 per cent to $61.99 in New York by midday yesterday, giving the leading mobile chipmaker a market capitalisation of $105.5bn. The figure eclipsed the $104.6bn market capitalisation of Intel, a company that has led the development of the PC chip.
The gap between the two companies has been narrowing sharply. Shares in Intel, which hit a peak market capitalisation of $502bn in 2000 amid the dotcom bubble, have fallen 14.9 per cent during the past year and 14 per cent over the past decade.