Qualcomm

Qualcomm is an American multinational semiconductor and telecommunications equipment company that designs and markets wireless telecommunications products and services.

Qualcomm derives most of its revenue from chipmaking and the bulk of its profit from patent licensing businesses.

Qualcomm was founded in 1985 by Cornell an MIT alumnus and UC San Diego professor Irwin M. Jacobs, USC and MIT alumnus Andrew Viterbi, Harvey White, Adelia Coffman, Andrew Cohen, Klein Gilhousen and Franklin Antonio. The company is headquartered in San Diego, California, United States, and has 224 worldwide locations.

The parent company is Qualcomm Incorporated (Qualcomm), which includes the Qualcomm Technology Licensing Division (QTL). Qualcomm's wholly owned subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. (QTI), operates substantially all of Qualcomm's R&D activities, as well as its product and services businesses, including its semiconductor business, Qualcomm CDMA Technologies.

Qualcomm pioneered the commercialization of the cdmaOne (IS-95) standard for wireless cellular communications, following up with CDMA2000, an early standard for third-generation (3G) mobile. Today, the company is the leading patent holder in advanced 3G mobile technologies, including CDMA2000 1xEV-DO and its evolutions; WCDMA and its higher-speed variant known as HSPA and its evolutions; and TD-SCDMA; as well as patents on 4G. The license streams from the patents on these inventions, and related products, are a major component of Qualcomm's business.

 

Qualcomm has made over 45 acquisitions including a $3.1B acquisition of Atheros on Jan 2011, a $2.5B acquisition of CSR plc. on Oct 2015, and a $1B deal of SnapTrack on Jan 2000 among others.

 

Qualcomm ranked #133 on the 2017 Fortune 500 list.

 

 

  • Year founded: 1985
  • Funding Info: Qualcomm has made 47 acquisitions and over 80 Investments to date.
  • Yearly Revenue: $22.7B (2018)
  • Employee Size: 10,001+
  • Business Valuation: Mkt Cap: $67.25B as of Jan 18, 2019
  • City/Town: San Diego
  • State: California
  • Country: United States
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