BlackBerry CEO John Giamatteo on powering 275M cars with QNX and why robotics is now the fastest-growing segment

Speaker 1: He is the CEO, and we're very excited to talk to him because BlackBerry has evolved many times.

Speaker 2: Here he is.

Speaker 1: The company has been on a fantastic run. Thank you so much for taking the time to come chat with us. Would you mind kicking us off with a little bit of an introduction on yourself? And I want to sort of set the table on the shape of the business now for anyone who's been living under a data center and doesn't understand the current shape of the business.

Speaker 6: Terrific. Hey. Thanks for having me on the program, guys. It's an honor to come out and talk a little bit about BlackBerry. Yeah. 42 old iconic Canadian

Speaker 1: success. That's right. So a

Speaker 6: lot of lot of deep roots in technology and a lot of different transformations

Speaker 1: over Yeah.

Speaker 6: Over those forty two years. You know, so many people know us from the the old smartphone days and Mhmm. And the devices, but our transformation and pivot into embedded software, and we could talk a lot more about that and the things that we're powering around the world, and secure communications where we provide mission critical, mission critical communication capabilities. That's really what the new BlackBerry is all about, those two categories in terms of serving the market.

Speaker 1: Yeah. On on automotive software, obviously, it's a very high stakes, in some cases, life and death scenario based on the security of that software. At the same time, the theme of 2026 has been cybersecurity with advanced AI models showing really powerful capabilities there. What have automotive leaders been coming to you to solve? How are they thinking about solving the the the problem of keeping automotive software secure in the modern era?

Speaker 6: Yeah. Great great great question. Especially now as there's so much more technology going into the vehicles than ever before, the need for a rock solid mission critical secure operating system. And when you think about BlackBerry and our q n x platform, think of it really as the operating system of the car, the windows of the car, the way windows is to the PCs around the world. The QMX operating system is really the operating system that powers all things that go on in the car, particularly on safety critical types of functionalities from digital cockpit to ADAS to body control. All of these different domains of technology that goes into the car and the CPUs that power them, run on top of a BlackBerry, operating system. So we're proud to be powering over 275,000,000 cars around the world today and and growing millions over the years.

Speaker 1: Yeah.

Speaker 6: And we got a tremendous amount of progress all around the world in Germany

Speaker 1: Yeah.

Speaker 6: Japan, Korea, obviously here in North America. China's one of our fastest growing segments. So a lot of exciting things as as more technology gets introduced to the vehicle.

Speaker 1: How has you as a CEO been grappling with this sort of story of token maxing? You get these new models. They're incredibly powerful. You have the opportunity to deploy them across the entire workforce. Rewrite every line of code if you want. At the same time, this comes with a cost. You have a serious business to run with a bottom line to manage. How have you been deploying AI internally in a way that maintains safety and security but also doesn't balloon cost but does drive efficiency?

Speaker 6: Yeah. Great, great, great question. That's a it's something we think about every every single day we are. The way I would describe it, we're pretty pragmatic about AI and how we use it because, like you said, the applications, the car, failure is not an option in a vehicle. Yeah. So we've got to be really careful about how widely we deploy AI as we build and enhance our existing operating systems and new products. So, you know, one of the things that's in in our industry, you have to meet the highest levels of certifications. And in the car industry, there's a particular cert certification of ISO two six two six two. Very high standard. You can't even think about being deployed into a vehicle unless you deploy that. Mhmm. For an AI agent and to to to try to meet that type of standard, it's a nontrivial type of exercise. So we are thoughtful about it. We deploy AI to help us maybe test our products. Mhmm. We we deploy it to to help service our customers. We deploy it in in our go to market activities. But in the actual, you know, core development, the code that goes in it, we're very thoughtful and limited about because of those certifications and the importance of it.

Speaker 1: Blackberry's been on such a fascinating historical journey. What is the area or cultural value or discipline or source, center of excellence that you think has remained the most true throughout all of that? What is the narrative arc that actually brings coherence to a company that's operated in multiple markets over multiple decades?

Speaker 6: Yeah. Yeah. That's yeah. For a forty two year old company that has evolved in so many different ways, you know, what I always tell people, BlackBerry has always been about security, trust, and innovation. And even though the the products and services that we sell to our customers today can't be held in the palm of your hands the way they might have been with a device, that security, trust, and innovation of everything that we do from the products that we deploy to the services that we provide to the support that we provide governments around the world to you know, eight out of the 10 top 10 g 10 countries around the world are still deploying BlackBerry's secure communications capabilities Mhmm. For mission critical types of applications. Mhmm. So if it needs to be safe, secure, and certified, that's really our value proposition. Our our our 2,000 plus employees and contractors around the world, our big hubs in Ottawa and Waterloo, Canada is where a lot of this technology gets developed. That's the pride of of what we stand for, and those are the values of what we stand for in terms of security, trust, innovation.

Speaker 1: So I imagine that although different technological solutions, different products have evolved, There's always been a really, really solid operating bar for building trust with customers, go to market, sales, actually partnering really deeply with the companies that you work with. How has that informed your M and A strategy going forward? Do you have a particular philosophy of how you can bring a new product or company into the fold successfully?

Speaker 6: Yeah. Yeah. That's well, one of the things we do now that I I don't know. We did it to a degree in the past, but I think we've we've really doubled down on it over the last few years is we really work very closely with the ecosystem to bring a lot of this capability to the market. Mhmm. So for instance, our biggest partners in the automotive sector, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, ARM, Texas Instruments, Intel. Big tier one operators like Bosch take our technology, integrate it into their solution, and deliver it to their customer. So whether it's the chip makers, the operating system maker like us, tier one providers, or the end customer like the auto manufacturer, having a comprehensive ecosystem approach has really been the way that we've we've gone about it. So when we think about m and a, we look at, you know, what what, you know, piece of the puzzle might we be missing, and we kind of put it through that filter. But I gotta be honest with you. It's right now, with the organic growth that we're seeing, the the the opportunities in physical AI with robots and medical instrument, there's a lot of organic kind of runway for us to enjoy. So from an m and a perspective, if it fills a gap, if it helps us accelerate a certain category, I think we'll we'll absolutely think about it. Mhmm. But right now, you know, the the runway that we have, we have a $950,000,000 backlog in our UNX operating system that's gonna be deployed over the next five, seven years. So these are the types of things we think about when we think about M and A.

Speaker 1: Jordy.

Speaker 2: I want you to make a guess for us considering how embedded BlackBerry is with, you know, automotive manufacturers and and other suppliers. What at at what point do you think that every auto manufacturer in The United States that sells, let's say, more than 5,000 cars will have a functioning autopilot out of the box in every single one of their vehicles. What year?

Speaker 6: Interesting. You know, there's ninety ninety million cars get made a year. 75% of those cars have basic fundamental technology like, like the media type of software that operates.

Speaker 1: Oh, sure.

Speaker 6: 25% have more advanced technology along the lines of what I talked about. So taking it to next level around an autopilot and and and, you know, autonomous applications and, you know, I think that's well into, you know, the the next decade of of the twenty thirties. Early innings. There's a lot more technology going on, and and we'll we'll see more and more of it get deployed. But I do think it's a little bit more of a journey than an instant thing that we're going to see in the next, you know, eighteen to twenty four months.

Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. No. That that is what I was my my estimate would be $20.35.

Speaker 1: Yeah. What are you seeing on the industrial automation side, the industrial either robotics or just industrial equipment side? I mean we've seen Caterpillar is doing really well, and it just feels like America is starting to reindustrialize. There's reshoring. There's also the data center build out, the AI build out. There's more construction happening, it feels like. Is that showing up in your business? Are you seeing that with your partners? What is the nature of the changing landscape of industrial autonomy?

Speaker 6: Absolutely. It's the general embedded space Mhmm. For us, which includes things like industrial automation

Speaker 1: Yeah.

Speaker 6: Robotics, medical instrumentation, surgical robotic arms that that go on in the Operating Rooms today. These are all while we've got a great footprint and presence and growth trajectory on the automotive side

Speaker 1: Mhmm.

Speaker 6: These other use cases around robotics. So for instance, your AMI, you know, AMR rather, automated mobile robots, things that are these are robots that are doing pick, pack, and ship Yeah. In big scale manufacturing. Those are applications that would need a QNX operating system

Speaker 3: Sure.

Speaker 6: Based on the precision and the safety levels of things required. So

Speaker 1: Got it.

Speaker 6: It's the fastest growing segment. It's our fastest growing pipeline.

Speaker 1: Oh, wow.

Speaker 6: And we think it's it's gonna help us fuel that next generation of growth here at Blackbird.

Speaker 1: Last question, and we'll let you get back to your busy day. I'm interested to know how you've processed the the story of Palantir's forward deployed engineering strategy. This, in some ways, has always existed. There's always been deep partnerships with enterprise companies where employees of one company might be embedded in another organization as they're deploying a piece of software. Palantir took it sort of to the extreme. How have you thought about deeply integrating your actual workforce and solutions engineering into companies that you're working with?

Speaker 6: Yeah. I I I follow the Palantir. It's obviously working for them. They're just killing it right now. And it helps them, think, you know, with their cycles and bringing more more products and solutions to the market. I think for us, we're probably a little bit slower to adopt something like that, if I'm honest. We're a little bit more again, back to some of the safety certifications.

Speaker 1: Sure.

Speaker 6: There's dozens of them all around the world that we have to comply with. We take that really seriously, and as a result, we we try to do as much of that in house as we possibly can. We got to a point where scale was really affecting our ability to get some of these solutions out there in a timely manner, I think we'd take a look at it. But at this point in time, it's a little bit more of a, you know, made in Canada approach.

Speaker 1: I love this made in Canada. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to come chat with us.

Speaker 2: Nice to

Speaker 1: meet Congratulations on all the recent success. Really impressive. And really appreciate the time chatting with you.

Speaker 3: Have a

Speaker 6: great day. So much for having me on.

Speaker 1: We'll talk to you soon. Have a good one. Goodbye. Let me tell you about Cisco. Critical infrastructure for the AI era. Unlock seamless real time experiences and new value with Cisco.

Speaker 2: Up next missed an opportunity to to pitch John on rebranding back to research in motion.

Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.

Speaker 2: Because that is one of the best names Yeah. In history.

Speaker 1: It is.

Speaker 2: And it feels even more fitting Yeah. For the current business.

Speaker 1: Maybe. Maybe. But, yeah, everyone knows BlackBerry.

Speaker 2: David in chat was asked wanted to ask, has BlackBerry thought of renaming their company? It's now b to b a totally different offering than what people I do think I do think the current name probably holds them back.

Speaker 1: Really? I think it I think it accelerates them a ton because even though BlackBerry was consumer, in enterprise, it was known as a much deeper solution that you would buy and deploy across Yeah. Like your entire organization.

Speaker 2: Would say that like the the next generation of enterprise buyers associate the BlackBerry name with just losing