Qualcomm Inc (QCOM)

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So this is why we're up these last 2 days

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Shares of Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) climbed nearly 5% Thursday, a day after one of its largest customers said it is going extend a key service across all of China.

China Unicom Ltd. (CHU), which purchases phones from Qualcomm and then sells them along with their carrier service to customers in China, said Wednesday it intends to expand its prepaid CDMA mobile phone service nationwide by August. The service is currently limited to seven of China's more than 20 provinces.

The prepaid service targets customers who typically don't qualify for cellphone plans. Customers pay an up-front fee to use the phone for a specific period of time and have the option of continuing the use with another up-front payment.

"Qualcomm is definitely benefitting from the stories out in China," said Rick Black, an analyst with Blaylock & Partners. "If China Unicom is successful (in expanding the service) it is clearly a good thing for Qualcomm. The market is reacting to that."

Shares of Qualcomm were recently up $1.66, or 4.7%, to $37.35, on volume of 21.5 million, compared with average daily volume of 14.7 million.