Cindy Lei, Director of Product Management at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., has spent more than two decades at the heart of the semiconductor industry. With 11 years at Intel followed by another 11 at Qualcomm, she has seen multiple technology cycles reshape the way people use their devices.
Today, she directs Qualcomm’s product strategy, guiding decisions that influence the CPU, GPU, AI engines, camera systems, and power management that define the Snapdragon platform. It is a role that blends technical rigor with commercial discipline, and it requires looking years into the future while managing today’s demands.
Her method for making the impossible feel achievable is deceptively simple: start with the user, then do the math.
Start With the User, Then Do the Math
Transitioning from a pure engineering role to a product role forced Lei to change her perspective. It was no longer enough to chase performance gains or architectural elegance in isolation. She needed to connect those advances to tangible consumer benefits and then justify the trade-offs.
Put yourself in a consumer’s shoes… start with a consumer experience… once you come up with that vision, the rest is calculating how much you need for each technology.
This approach allows Qualcomm to project what consumers will expect three or four years from now, then work backward to determine how much processing power, graphics capability, or AI acceleration must be allocated to deliver that experience. The goal is to avoid over-investing in one area at the expense of another. Instead of chasing a single benchmark win, the emphasis is on delivering balanced performance across the system.
Balancing the Die: CPU, GPU, AI
The reality of chip design is that different technology teams naturally argue for more die area, more power budget, and more resources. The CPU team sees itself as essential. The GPU team makes the same case. The AI team does too. Lei’s role is to serve as arbiter, forcing the discussion back to the larger system.
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Every technology thinks it is the most critical… The way we make a product work this well and still last all day is a balance act.
Once consumer use cases are identified, the allocation becomes a matter of calculation rather than negotiation. This prevents turf wars and ensures the finished product delivers both speed and battery life, rather than excelling at one and failing at the other.
Sustained Performance Is a System Problem
Peak performance matters, but it only tells half the story. A phone that throttles after a few minutes of heavy use delivers a poor experience. Lei frames sustained performance as a system-wide challenge, not just an engineering problem for one block.
There’s sensors across the whole SoC… we manage power and thermal together as a whole… it’s very dynamic, always working in the background.
Efficiency gains within each component matter, but the orchestration of workloads, clock speeds, and thermal limits across the SoC is equally critical. This coordination ensures users get responsive performance that doesn’t fade once the device heats up.
Culture: From “Impossible” to Shipped
At the start of every development cycle, goals are set deliberately high—often bordering on unreachable. The intention is to stretch teams beyond what feels possible. Over time, that culture has built momentum.
It starts with the impossible… we set a target, they beat that target almost every single time.
This persistence compounds. Small wins add up across thousands of engineers, and what once seemed out of reach becomes the baseline for the next generation.
Competing Beyond Raw Numbers: Multi-Device Experience
While benchmark leadership remains valuable, Lei emphasizes that true competitive advantage lies in the overall user experience. Snapdragon products increasingly sit at the center of an ecosystem that spans phones, PCs, tablets, wearables, and even cars.
We have a very close collaboration with Microsoft and Google… we test across wearables, PC, tablet, even auto… improve the overall Snapdragon multi-device experience.
Delivering seamless transitions across devices requires Qualcomm to work closely with software partners and to dogfood its own hardware combinations. The payoff is an experience that goes beyond raw speed to create real loyalty.
Customer-Led, Not Customer-Dictated
Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) play a significant role in shaping the roadmap, but Qualcomm is careful not to let any single customer dictate the direction. By designing for the product first, the company maintains flexibility and can later customize for specific partners.
Our customers are super important… we design to exactly what we need… and customize to satisfy all.
This balance keeps Qualcomm aligned with the industry while preserving control over its long-term strategy.
Foundry Strategy: Broader Than a Single Node
Discussions of foundry strategy often focus on flagship chips built on the latest manufacturing process. Lei stresses that Snapdragon is much more than one block or one foundry relationship.
We’re fabless… our overall SoC has over 40 components… we work with a lot of different foundries.
The platform draws from a broad base of suppliers, which spreads risk and ensures Qualcomm can scale production across multiple generations.
What Keeps Her Here
After two decades, many would look for a slower pace. Lei is still energized.
You never stop the learning… you wake up asking what’s the next new thing.
For her, the attraction lies in the speed of change. The targets move every year, and that makes the work never feel finished. Lei’s perspective highlights a few clear lessons for anyone building products in fast-moving industries.
First, begin with the user and work backward. This keeps strategy grounded in what matters rather than distracted by internal politics or single metrics.
Second, balance is critical. Over-investing in one capability rarely delivers lasting success; aligning the system as a whole creates experiences that endure.
Third, ambition fuels progress. Setting “impossible” targets may feel unrealistic, but it motivates teams to stretch—and over time, that becomes a source of competitive advantage.
Finally, her story underscores the value of humility in leadership. Respect for competitors, attention to partners, and constant curiosity about what’s next allow Qualcomm to remain relevant in a crowded, unforgiving market. For leaders across industries, the Snapdragon story is a reminder that the best innovations come from marrying technical precision with a relentless focus on the end user.
