BlackBerry CEO says robotics is one of its fastest-growing businesses
- ID
- 17554
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 25 Aug 2026, 5:26 PM
- Fetched
- 25 Aug 2026, 5:31 PM
- Provider
- CNBC Technology
- Category
- technology
- Original URL
- https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/25/blackberry-qnx-robotics-physical-ai.html
- Source URL
- https://www.cnbc.com/id/19854910/device/rss/rss.html
Summary
- Score
- 3.5
- Created
- 25 Aug 2026, 5:32 PM
- Tags
- Audience
- developersai_agent_users
What happened
BlackBerry CEO John Giamatteo told CNBC that robotics is one of the fastest-growing segments within its QNX software division, which provides safety-critical embedded OS software already running in 275 million vehicles. QNX carries roughly a $950 million royalty backlog, and Giamatteo positioned the division to capture growth in physical AI applications beyond automotive.
Why it matters
This is a CEO marketing interview with no product launch, pricing, API, or partnership detail that a builder must act on. If you ship embedded or robotics software, QNX's existing automotive footprint and royalty backlog suggest it is a credible RTOS contender for physical-AI workloads, but the article gives no technical specifics to evaluate against alternatives like ROS 2 or real-time Linux.
Discussion angle
Whether QNX's safety-certified RTOS pedigree gives it a durable edge in robotics as physical AI scales, or whether open-source stacks like ROS 2 on real-time Linux will dominate the builder side of the market.