Qualcomm unveils $20 billion stock buyback program

<p>March 17 (Reuters) - Smartphone chip designer Qualcomm (<a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/QCOM">QCOM</a>) on Tuesday unveiled a $20 billion stock buyback ‌program as it looks to take advantage ‌of a steep drop in its share price, which has ​been hit by a global memory supply crunch that is expected to slow handset manufacturing.</p>
<p>Shares of the company rose more than 3% on Tuesday, after ‌a year-to-date drop ⁠of over 24% as the widespread shortage of memory chips hit Qualcomm's customers, ⁠mainly smartphone makers.</p>
<p>The new buyback is in addition to its existing $2.1 billion share buyback plan, the ​company said, ​adding that Qualcomm ​is also increasing its ‌quarterly cash dividend by more than 3% to 92 cents per share from 89 cents.</p>
<p>"We remain focused on stockholder returns and executing on our ongoing diversification opportunities," CEO Cristiano Amon said.</p>
<p>Qualcomm is ‌among the largest smartphone chip ​providers in the world, counting ​major Android players ​and iPhone-maker <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/organizations/apple/">Apple</a> among its customers.</p>
<p>But ‌it has been increasingly ​diversifying its business, ​attempting to reduce its dependence on the smartphone industry by working to enter the ​booming data center ‌chip and autonomous vehicle markets.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Arsheeya ​Bajwa in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra ​Eluri and Anil D'Silva)</p>