Qualcomm Lost Two Key People But What Is The Impact?

Replacements already in place

Feb 3, 2026 by

Qualcomm Snapdragon logoQualcomm just lost two of it’s top architects, a seemingly massive blow but is it really that bad? SemiAccurate told you about their replacements months ago but is it going to work out?

The short story is that both Gerard Williams III and John ‘Turbo’ Bruno are out of Qualcomm officially now. Last year SemiAccurate ‘speculated’ that this was happening and sure enough, it did. As you can see from Gerard’s LinkedIn profile, it is over.

Gerard Williams III LinkedIn

From Gerard Williams III’s LinkedIn profile

So with the two most important CPU architects out the door, this means it is over for Qualcomm’s PC and phone dreams, right? Not really for three reasons. First up, making a CPU is an ~3 year undertaking from clean sheet to production. If Gerard and John effectively stopped working in mid-2025, the chips they had well underway are not coming out for another 2+ years. That runway gives Qualcomm a lot of time to get the new team up to speed before things get critical.

Next up is that new team, already in house since Qualcomm ‘hired’ them late last year. Assuming they can be brought up to speed soon, that gap in the flow of cores should be minimal or non-existent. In short there is likely to be a hiccup but given the long goodbye by the current architects, and the non-acrimonious nature of the departure, it is unlikely to be a big one.

And that brings us to the last bit, the team. Gerard and John are two people in a team of hundreds. Sure they are key people with above average karaoke skills, but they are still a small part of a large team. That team has many smart people working with and directly under them that can and will continue the work. Even if Qualcomm didn’t hire new architects preemptively, it is likely that several of the current team could step up and continue the work fairly seamlessly.

So in short Gerard Williams III and John Bruno are out of Qualcomm for real this time, not just SemiAccurate’s ‘speculation’ from months ago. Their replacements, as we exclusively told you last year, are already in place and the rest of a strong team is still there. This may be a PR black eye and a clickbait site’s dream headline but functionally it is not a big deal. Assuming the new crew is solid, things will carry on. We will know how it turned out when the crop of 2029 phones hit the test bench.S|A

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Charlie Demerjian

Roving engine of chaos and snide remarks at SemiAccurate
Charlie Demerjian is the founder of Stone Arch Networking Services and SemiAccurate.com. SemiAccurate.com is a technology news site; addressing hardware design, software selection, customization, securing and maintenance, with over one million views per month. He is a technologist and analyst specializing in semiconductors, system and network architecture. As head writer of SemiAccurate.com, he regularly advises writers, analysts, and industry executives on technical matters and long lead industry trends. Charlie is also available through Guidepoint and Mosaic. FullyAccurate