Qualcomm has been facing multi-front battles in the past few years: Apple Lawsuit, NXP deal nixed, Broadcom hostile take over, China problem, Regulator problems

Qualcomm has been facing multi-front battles in the past few years: Apple Lawsuit, NXP deal nixed, Broadcom hostile take over, China problem, Regulator problems, Board In-fights, pressure from activist investor to "cut cost"/split the licensing business... etc, etc. Making the arm server business from 0 to a commercial hit would be too much to ask. Although it did have the best chance.