Qualcomm, the world's largest smartphone chip maker, has made a strong forecast for sales this quarter, Bloomberg reported on April 27.

Qualcomm said on Wednesday that fiscal third-quarter revenue would be between $10.5 billion and $11.3 billion, above the average analyst estimate of $9.97 billion.

The outlook helps dispel industry concerns about a slowdown in demand following a surge in demand caused by the pandemic over the past two years, and shows that Chief Executive Cristiano Amon's plans to diversify are paying off.

"We can no longer be defined as a communications company serving only one industry," he said on a conference call with analysts.

Demand for Android phones in mainland China, the world's largest mobile phone market, is slowing, but sales of Qualcomm's mobile-related chips were higher than expected in the previous quarter, with revenue of $6.33 billion, analysts pointed out.

The company expects its mobile phone unit to grow by more than 50% this fiscal year, helped by gains from Samsung's flagship Galaxy line of phones and some Chinese smartphone makers. Previous versions of the Galaxy series used a larger percentage of Samsung's own chips than Qualcomm's.

Executives said there was some evidence of weak demand for budget phones, but that wouldn't hurt Qualcomm's revenue because it's not a significant part of its business.

Revenue from IoT was $1.7 billion. Qualcomm said the growing use of its chips in industrial machinery is also driving growth in its business. The company's automotive segment had sales of $339 million, up 41% year over year.

In previous quarters, Qualcomm had focused on delivering the most expensive smartphone parts -- at the expense of orders from cheaper smartphone makers. But Amon's long-term strategy is to bet on new markets. He has said his tenure should be judged by Qualcomm's progress in high-growth areas.