Qualcomm

In 1985, seven former Linkabit colleagues met in Irwin Jacobs’s home and decided to create a company that would build “QUALity COMMunications”; the company’s name combines “Quality” and “Communications.” It was incorporated in California that year and began operations in July 1985, with Jacobs as chairman and CEO.⁠[1][2][3][4]

Among the founders, Jacobs and Andrew J. Viterbi had co-founded Linkabit in 1968; the other founders included Harvey P. White and Franklin P. Antonio. Jacobs recalled that when they founded the company they had no specific product in mind, only a belief that wireless and digital technology would be useful; at the time he thought the company might one day reach 100 employees.⁠[4][4][4][4][2][2]

One of its early businesses was OmniTRACS, a satellite-based two-way mobile communications and tracking system that Qualcomm designed, manufactured and operated, providing messaging, position reporting and other services to transportation companies and other customers. Qualcomm began high-volume manufacturing of OmniTRACS terminals in 1988; by 1996 it had sold more than 175,000 terminals in 33 countries.⁠[4][4][4]

In the second generation of mobile communications, the industry had moved toward time-division multiple access (TDMA), while Qualcomm proposed code-division multiple access (CDMA), a spread-spectrum technology offering much higher capacity. Many doubted CDMA would work or thought it too complex, so Qualcomm built an entire cellular system itself, including chips, phones and base stations. On November 7, 1989, Qualcomm demonstrated soft handoff between two cell sites in San Diego, proving that CDMA worked; CDMA was later standardized and deployed in 2G networks.⁠[5][5][5][5][5]

In 1991, the company reincorporated in Delaware.⁠[3]

In 1995, CDMA was rolled out commercially; in August of that year Qualcomm completed its third public offering, selling 11.5 million shares for net proceeds of about $486 million, and its stock traded on Nasdaq under the symbol QCOM. To promote CDMA, Qualcomm worked with Hughes and Nortel on infrastructure equipment and formed a joint venture with Sony, QPE, to make subscriber equipment.⁠[1][4][4][4]

CDMA systems were successfully launched in South Korea and Hong Kong, and the South Korean network had about 600,000 subscribers as of November 1996; in the fall of 1996, PrimeCo launched CDMA-based PCS service in 15 major U.S. cities, covering a population of more than 60 million.⁠[4][4][4]

Qualcomm and Sweden’s Ericsson concluded a series of agreements resolving their disputes over CDMA technology and agreed to jointly support ITU approval of third-generation CDMA standards. Qualcomm then concentrated on chips and licensing: it spun off Leap Wireless International in September 1998, sold its terrestrial CDMA wireless infrastructure business to Ericsson in March 1999, and in February 2000 sold its CDMA phone business to Kyocera Wireless, which agreed to buy most of its CDMA chips from Qualcomm for five years.⁠[6][6][6][6][7][7]

In 1999, the board declared a two-for-one and then a four-for-one stock split.⁠[6][6]

Qualcomm argued that the next generation of cellular data should use packet switching and TCP/IP, and designed a data-optimized CDMA system later named EV-DO, some of whose concepts became a foundation for 3G/4G. On the chip side, the MSM3300 of 2000 integrated MP3 playback, Bluetooth and GPS; the MSM6100 of 2002 integrated video encoding and decoding, and that year Qualcomm was first to integrate a camera image signal processor in a mobile chip; in 2005 the MSM7500 added a second CPU to run third-party operating systems; and in 2007 the MSM8650 integrated the first 1 GHz ARM-based CPU.⁠[5][5][5][5][5][5][5][5]

In July 2005, Paul E. Jacobs, son of the founder, became CEO, adding the role of chairman in March 2009; Irwin Jacobs retired in 2012. In 2012, Qualcomm introduced its first Snapdragon-branded processor, with a quad-core CPU, programmable GPU shader core, dual-camera support and 4K video.⁠[8][8][2][5]

In March 2014, Steve Mollenkopf, who had joined as an engineer in 1994, became CEO, and Paul Jacobs became executive chairman.⁠[9][9][9]

In February 2015, Qualcomm reached a resolution of an investigation by China’s National Development and Reform Commission under the Anti-Monopoly Law, recording and paying a $975 million fine and agreeing to implement a rectification plan modifying its business practices in China. Under the plan, for licenses of only its 3G/4G essential Chinese patents for branded devices sold in China, it charges royalties of 5% for 3G devices and 3.5% for 4G devices that do not implement CDMA or WCDMA, using a royalty base of 65% of the net selling price.⁠[9][9][9][9]

On October 27, 2016, Qualcomm announced an agreement to acquire Dutch chipmaker NXP Semiconductors and launched a tender offer through a subsidiary; on July 26, 2018, it terminated the purchase agreement and paid NXP a $2.0 billion cash termination fee. In the meantime, on February 3, 2017, it formed RF360 Holdings, a joint venture with TDK (51% owned by Qualcomm), for RF front-end modules and filters.⁠[10][10][10][10][10]

The Korea Fair Trade Commission notified Qualcomm of an investigation in March 2015 and on December 27, 2016 announced that Qualcomm had violated the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act by refusing to license or restricting licenses to rival chipmakers, conditioning chip supply on license agreements, and imposing portfolio-license and free cross-grant terms; it imposed a fine of 1.03 trillion won (about $927 million), which Qualcomm paid on March 30, 2017.⁠[10][10][10][10][11]

Qualcomm sued in the Seoul High Court to cancel the decision. On December 4, 2019, the Seoul High Court upheld parts of the decision and cancelled some of the remedial orders, and both sides appealed to the Supreme Court. On April 13, 2023, the Korean Supreme Court upheld fines totaling about 1 trillion won on Qualcomm and two of its chip affiliates, ending an eight-year legal battle.⁠[11][11][11][12][12][12][13]

On January 17, 2017, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission sued Qualcomm in the Northern District of California, alleging that it violated Section 5 of the FTC Act by conditioning modem chip supply on licenses to its standard-essential patents, refusing to license competitors and entering into exclusive arrangements with Apple. After a trial in January 2019, the court ruled on May 21 that Qualcomm had monopoly power in CDMA and premium LTE modem chips and had engaged in anticompetitive conduct, and issued a permanent worldwide injunction.⁠[14][14][14][14][14][15]

On August 11, 2020, the Ninth Circuit reversed the judgment and vacated the injunction, holding that Qualcomm had no antitrust duty to license rival chipmakers and that its OEM-level licensing policy, “however novel,” did not violate the Sherman Act. On March 26, 2021, the FTC’s deadline to seek Supreme Court review expired, ending the case.⁠[15][15][15][16][16]

On January 20, 2017, Apple sued Qualcomm in the Southern District of California seeking declarations on several patents and alleging breach of contract and violations of federal antitrust law; Apple’s contract manufacturers were later drawn into related litigation. On April 15, 2019, the two companies announced the dismissal of all litigation worldwide, including with Apple’s contract manufacturers; Apple made a payment to Qualcomm, and the parties signed a six-year license agreement effective April 1, 2019 (with a two-year extension option) and a multiyear chipset supply agreement. Qualcomm recognized $4.7 billion in licensing revenue from the settlement that quarter.⁠[10][17][17][17][17][14]

On October 11, 2017, Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission ruled by a four-to-three vote that Qualcomm had violated the Fair Trade Act and imposed a fine of NT$23.4 billion. After Qualcomm filed an administrative suit, it settled with the commission on August 9, 2018: the decision was deemed revoked from the start, the commission kept the amounts already paid with nothing further due, and Qualcomm committed to good faith and fairness in patent negotiations with handset makers.⁠[10][10][10][10][10][10]

On January 24, 2018, the European Commission fined Qualcomm €997 million, equal to 4.9% of its 2017 turnover, for abusing its dominance in LTE baseband chipsets. The Commission found that under a 2011 agreement Qualcomm made significant payments to Apple on condition that Apple use only Qualcomm chips in iPhones and iPads, denying rivals the chance to compete for Apple’s business; Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said Qualcomm “illegally shut out rivals from the market … for over five years.”⁠[18][18][18][18]

Qualcomm provided financial guarantees in lieu of cash and appealed. On June 15, 2022, the EU General Court annulled the decision in its entirety; the Commission’s deadline to appeal to the European Court of Justice expired in August 2022 without an appeal.⁠[10][11][11][11][19]

On March 12, 2018, after reviewing a recommendation from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, President Trump issued an order under Section 721 of the Defense Production Act of 1950 finding credible evidence that Singapore-incorporated Broadcom, by controlling Qualcomm, might threaten U.S. national security. The order prohibited the takeover and any substantially equivalent transaction, disqualified Broadcom’s 15 nominees for Qualcomm’s board, and required the parties to abandon the deal immediately and permanently.⁠[20][21][21][21][21][21][21]

On July 18, 2019, acting on a 2010 complaint by British chip company Icera (later part of Nvidia), the European Commission found that between 2009 and 2011 Qualcomm sold certain baseband chipsets to two customers below cost with the intention of hindering competition, and fined it about €242 million. On appeal, the EU General Court in September 2024 largely upheld the decision, accepting in part only a plea on the calculation of the fine, which it reduced to €238.7 million.⁠[11][11][19][19]

On January 4, 2021, Qualcomm announced that its board had unanimously selected President Cristiano AmonCristiano AmonCristiano Amon is a communications engineer and business executive who has served since June 30, 2021, as president and chief executive officer of the U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm, as well as a member of its board of directors. He joined Qualcomm as an engineer in 1995, and after returning to the company in 2004 he long led its semiconductor business, QCT, and the Snapdragon platform, spearheading the company’s 5G strategy and its expansion into areas such as automotive and personal computers.Open the full entry to succeed the retiring Mollenkopf as CEO on June 30. Amon joined Qualcomm in 1995 and had been president since January 2018, overseeing the semiconductor business and 5G strategy.⁠[22][22][22]

On March 15, 2021, subsidiary Qualcomm Technologies completed the acquisition of CPU design company NUVIA for $1.4 billion before working capital and other adjustments, planning to use its in-house CPUs in flagship smartphones, laptops and automotive digital cockpits; NUVIA’s former CEO Gerard Williams joined Qualcomm.⁠[23][23][23]

On August 31, 2022, Arm sued Qualcomm and its subsidiary NUVIA in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, alleging failure to meet the termination obligations of NUVIA’s architecture license after the acquisition and seeking to have Qualcomm stop using and destroy technology developed under that license (which Arm alleged includes Qualcomm’s custom Oryon CPU cores); Qualcomm counterclaimed that the cores were covered by its own license agreements with Arm. On October 22, 2024, Arm sent a breach notice saying it could terminate the license if not cured within 60 days, and withdrew it on January 8, 2025.⁠[24][24][24][24][24]

On December 20, 2024, a jury found that Qualcomm did not breach the NUVIA license and that Qualcomm CPUs containing NUVIA designs are licensed under Qualcomm’s agreement, but could not reach a verdict on whether NUVIA itself breached. On September 30, 2025, the court entered final judgment upholding the verdict, granting judgment to NUVIA and dismissing Arm’s remaining claims; Arm filed an appeal to the Third Circuit on October 1.⁠[24][24][24][24][25]

On May 13, 2025, during the Saudi-US Investment Forum in Riyadh, Qualcomm signed a memorandum of understanding with Saudi national AI company HUMAIN to build AI data centers in Saudi Arabia and supply data center CPU and AI solutions for its cloud infrastructure. On June 9, Qualcomm announced the acquisition of high-speed wired connectivity company Alphawave IP Group at an implied enterprise value of about $2.4 billion to provide key assets for its data center expansion; it completed the deal about one quarter ahead of schedule on December 18, with Alphawave co-founder Tony Pialis leading Qualcomm’s data center business.⁠[26][26][26][27][27][28][28]

On October 7, Qualcomm announced an agreement to acquire open-source hardware and software company Arduino (subject to regulatory approval), with Arduino keeping its independent brand and tools, and unveiled the Arduino UNO Q, the first Arduino board powered by a Qualcomm Dragonwing processor. On October 28, Qualcomm unveiled the AI200 and AI250 data center inference accelerator cards and racks; the AI200 supports 768 GB of LPDDR per card, racks draw 160 kW, and the company committed to an annual cadence of new generations.⁠[29][29][29][29][30][30][30][30]

In fiscal 2025 (ended September 28, 2025), Qualcomm’s revenue was $44.284 billion, including $37.869 billion from equipment and services and $6.415 billion from licensing; affected by U.S. tax law changes, income tax expense reached $7.122 billion and net income was $5.541 billion. At that date the company had about 52,000 full-time, part-time and temporary workers in more than 200 locations across 38 countries.⁠[3][3][3][3][3][3]

At its Investor Day on June 24, 2026, Qualcomm unveiled its Dragonfly data center portfolio, including the Dragonfly C1000 CPU, High Bandwidth Compute technology and the Dragonfly AI300 inference accelerator, and said it had signed multi-year, multi-generation agreements with leading AI and data center companies. On July 28, Qualcomm completed the acquisition of AI software platform company Modular, valued at about $3.1 billion at the acquisition-date share price and paid mainly with about 18 million shares of Qualcomm common stock.⁠[31][31][24][24]

Revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2026, reported on July 29, was $9.9 billion; Amon said the company aimed to grow non-handset revenue to $40 billion by fiscal 2029. On September 8, Qualcomm announced a multi-generation collaboration with Amazon on customized silicon for AI data centers and optical connectivity solutions of up to 1.6T.⁠[32][32][33][33]

At the Snapdragon Summit on September 22, 2026, Qualcomm unveiled two flagship mobile platforms built on a 2nm process, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, focused on agentic AI experiences, with devices to come from brands including HONOR, Motorola, OnePlus, OPPO, vivo and Xiaomi. The chips can run mixture-of-experts models of up to 30 billion parameters on the device.⁠[34][34][34][35]

On September 24, 2026, Qualcomm announced the renewal of its global patent license agreement with Apple, effective April 1, 2027. On October 5, Qualcomm and Huawei announced a multi-year, broad patent license agreement with cross-licenses in fields including 5G, compute, AI and networking, together with Qualcomm’s purchase of certain Huawei U.S. patents, to close after regulatory approval. On October 6, Qualcomm added that the terms are confidential but that reports characterizing it as a net payor are incorrect.⁠[36][37][37][37][37]

In an interview on the Sources podcast on October 8, 2026, Amon said some companies at the forefront of AI were telling Qualcomm that by 2028 they need phones able to run at least a 100-billion-parameter model, running continuously on the device; he expects a “battle of the agents,” in which phones, holding users’ personal context, will play a critical role in deciding which assistants win.⁠[35][38][38][38][38]

On April 18, 2024, Qualcomm separately sued Arm, alleging that it failed to provide deliverables owed under the architecture license agreement, and later added claims that Arm improperly sought to terminate the license and publicized it, failed to offer licenses on commercially reasonable terms and failed to negotiate in good faith. A five-day trial took place in Delaware federal court in October 2026, at which Qualcomm also alleged that Arm leaked its 2024 breach notice letter to Bloomberg to undermine Qualcomm’s dealings with Meta; Qualcomm’s license to Arm’s architecture runs until 2033.⁠[24][24][24][24][39][39][39]

On October 13, Qualcomm said the jury had found that Arm breached its long-standing architecture license agreement, failed to honor its commitments and intentionally acted to disrupt Qualcomm’s businesses, and that it would continue developing products including its Oryon CPUs.⁠[40][40]

Qualcomm operates mainly through two businesses: QCT (Qualcomm CDMA Technologies), its semiconductor business, supplies chip platforms and system software for mobile devices, automobiles (digital cockpits and driver assistance) and IoT; QTL (Qualcomm Technology Licensing) licenses its intellectual property portfolio, including standard-essential patents for wireless products. A QSI segment makes strategic investments, and nonreportable segments include government technologies and data center. Except for certain RF products, QCT uses a fabless model and does not operate its own fabs.⁠[3][3][3][3][3]

The licensing business and the vast majority of patents belong to the parent, Qualcomm Incorporated, while engineering, R&D and product businesses are run substantially by subsidiary Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. The company is headquartered in San Diego, California, and its common stock is listed on Nasdaq under the symbol QCOM.⁠[40][40][3][3]

Qualcomm: Official website: https://www.qualcomm.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[41][1]

X: Public account: https://x.com/Qualcomm (opens in a new window)⁠[41]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/qualcomm (opens in a new window)⁠[1]