LONDON--Qualcomm, the world’s largest maker of mobile phone chips, is seeking a PR firm to provide strategic support in Europe.
The assignment will supplement Qualcomm’s existing agency relationships in the region, said Qualcomm senior marketing director Richard Tinkler. Qualcomm’s current agency roster includes UK firm Liberty and Hill + Knowlton Strategies, among others.
Tinkler confirmed that an RFI had been released to a number of firms, as part of a process to identify “a single pan-European strategic agency.”
Qualcomm is often viewed as one of the biggest spenders in the tech PR industry, for work that is almost entirely B2B in scope. Earlier this year, it appointed Axicom to launch its wireless electric vehicle charging initiative in the UK and US.
Qualcomm’s business has boomed in tandem with surging demand for mobile devices, supplying wireless chips to such companies as Samsung, Apple and HTC. The company is also behind the highly-successful Snapdragon processor, which run programs in smartphones and tablet computers.
According to recent reports, Qualcomm has struggled to meet high levels of demand for its products. IDC predicts that mobile phone shipments will reach 1.7 billion in 2012, an increase of 8.2 percent compared to 2011, with smartphone shipments expected to grow by 33.5 percent.