Yesterday (June 24, 2025) BlackBerry (NYSE: BB) reported strong fiscal Q1 FY2026 results, highlighting growth in its automotive software segment. Total revenue was $121.7M, with the QNX division contributing $57.5M – up 8% year-over-year . By contrast, in Q4 FY2025 (reported April 2, 2025) QNX revenue was $65.8M . Thus, the QNX segment went from essentially flat growth in late FY2025 to an 8% YOY gain in Q1. Notably, BlackBerry also cited an industry-leading royalty backlog of about $865M (up from ~$460M in FY2022) , underscoring a strong pipeline of future automotive software contracts. The chart below illustrates this recent QNX revenue trend:
BlackBerry’s management emphasized that these automotive results reflect the shift toward software-defined vehicles (SDVs) and the growing demand for reliable ADAS and cockpit systems. In the Q4 FY2025 earnings call, BlackBerry noted it “continued to demonstrate our leadership in automotive by securing design wins with a number of leading OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers, primarily for ADAS and cockpit domain controllers” . To support SDV trends, QNX introduced SDP 8.0 and the QNX Cabin digital cockpit development environment in late 2024 .
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The company has already locked in a “top-10 global OEM” to a multi-year commitment for QNX Cabin, and says SDP 8.0 is gaining traction across automotive and other verticals . Meanwhile, QNX’s new Hypervisor 8.0 (announced June 2025) enables multiple operating systems (including Android Automotive OS) to run simultaneously on one automotive SoC . Tech analysis notes that “by 2030, 90% of vehicles will have at least one domain controller,” making such hypervisors crucial . In short, BlackBerry is positioning QNX as the safe, reliable foundation OS for tomorrow’s SDV cockpit and ADAS architectures.
Partnerships & Ecosystem Development
BlackBerry has been actively forming partnerships to accelerate SDV deployment. In late June 2025, QNX (BlackBerry) signed a memorandum of understanding with Vector (and associated with TTTech Auto) to develop an open Foundational Vehicle Software Platform for SDVs . This alliance aims to unify their safety OS, middleware and tool chains so OEMs and Tier-1s can share and reuse code, “reducing duplicative software development” . Earlier, in April 2025, QNX teamed up with Chinese autonomous-drive leader WeRide Inc. to power its WeRide WePilot L2++ ADAS system for Chery (EXEED Sterra) cars . QNX OS for Safety serves as the “reliable, safe, and secure foundation” enabling WeRide’s ADAS to handle defensive driving, lane changing and 360° sensing . These collaborations show QNX’s role beyond just the OS: it is becoming a core part of Tier-1 ADAS stacks and China’s NEV/robotaxi ecosystem.
BlackBerry also cites many OEMs and Tier-1 partners relying on QNX. Globally, QNX software is embedded in over 255 million vehicles . Leading automakers using QNX include BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Volkswagen, Volvo, Ford, Honda, and more . In China especially, QNX has “deepening roots” through collaborations with domestic partners . For example, QNX is chosen by Chinese firms like ADAYO (Foryou General Electronics) and Autolink to power next-gen digital cockpit controllers on Qualcomm Snapdragon Ride Flex chips . Emerging Chinese chipmakers (Rockchip, SemiDrive) and OEMs (SAIC, Chery, Changan, GAC, BAIC, Dongfeng-Nissan, Dongfeng-Honda, etc.) are building cockpit/ADAS systems on QNX . The table below lists representative automakers and Tier-1s currently deploying BlackBerry QNX in production vehicles or projects (compiled from BlackBerry disclosures ):
| OEMs (Manufacturers) | Tier-1 Suppliers & Chip Partners |
| BMW (Germany) | Bosch (Germany) |
| Mercedes-Benz (Germany) | Continental (Germany) |
| Toyota (Japan) | Autolink (China)* |
| Volkswagen Group (Germany) | Hangsheng (China)* |
| Volvo Cars (Sweden) | ThunderX (China)* |
| Ford Motor Co. (USA) | Rockchip (China) |
| Honda (Japan) | SemiDrive (China) |
| Subaru (Japan) | KOTEI (China) |
| Geely (China) | |
| SAIC Motor (China) | |
| Chery Group (China) | |
| Changan Auto (China) | |
| FAW Group (China) | |
| GAC Group (China) | |
| BAIC Group (China) | |
| Dongfeng-Nissan (China) | |
| Dongfeng-Honda (China) | |
| Leapmotor (China EV) | |
| Canoo (USA EV) | |
| Damon (Canada EV) |
Market Outlook and Competition
The automotive software market is growing rapidly. A recent industry forecast projects the global automotive software market expanding from ~$19.0B in 2023 to $32.3B by 2030 (CAGR ≈7.8%) . Much of this growth is driven by ADAS and SDV applications . North America, Europe and especially Asia (China, Japan, Korea, India) lead this trend . BlackBerry’s strategy is to capture a significant share of this growth through QNX. The company’s long-standing safety certifications (ISO 26262 ASIL D, ISO 21434 cybersecurity) and track record make it the “trusted foundation” for autonomous and connected car systems .
In this competitive landscape, QNX faces rivals such as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Automotive (Android Automotive OS) and Linux-based platforms. Notably, Qualcomm’s chips often run Android-based software, but QNX’s hypervisor can host Android Automotive alongside QNX for safety, giving automakers flexibility . In fact, Chinese ADAS chip firms (e.g. Horizon Robotics) and OEM software stacks (Alibaba AliOS, Baidu Apollo, Huawei HI-Safe) are vying for market share in China, but BlackBerry points to its deep OEM relationships and safety pedigree as differentiators . Finally, partnerships with major cloud and compute players (Microsoft Azure for cloud cockpit dev , as well as historic ties with Amazon AWS and chip vendors) further embed QNX in the automotive ecosystem.
Key Takeaways: BlackBerry’s latest earnings highlight solid growth in its automotive (QNX) business. The 8% YoY revenue jump in QNX (Q1 FY2026) and a ~$865M royalty backlog signal strong momentum. New products (SDP 8.0, Hypervisor 8.0, QNX Cabin) and partnerships (Vector, WeRide, Microsoft, etc.) position QNX as a cornerstone of the emerging software-defined vehicle. Although competition from Qualcomm and Chinese tech is intensifying, QNX’s entrenched safety-critical software role and broad OEM/Tier1 adoption (as shown above) suggest it will remain a major platform – especially as ADAS and SDV markets grow by high single digits annually .
References:
Authoritative sources including BlackBerry earnings releases and QNX press materials were used. A full list of cited documents is available in the references.
