About Qualcomm | Company Information & History

COMPANY

Qualcomm is the world’s leading wireless technology innovator.

Inventing the tech the world loves.

Qualcomm is enabling a world where everyone and everything can be intelligently connected. You interact with products and technologies made possible by Qualcomm every day, including 5G-enabled smartphones that double as pro-level cameras and gaming devices, smarter vehicles and cities, and the technology behind the smart, connected factories that manufactured your latest purchase. Our powerful connectivity solutions keep you connected—even in remote areas. Qualcomm 5G and AI innovations are the power behind the connected intelligent edge. You’ll find our technologies behind and inside the innovations that deliver significant value across multiple industries and to billions of people every day.

See us where 5G is making the world more connected.

We invented the breakthroughs that make 5G possible. We’re taking on some of the world’s biggest challenges to positively impact society for the benefit of the greater good. You’ll see us where 5G is transforming entire industries and enabling new ones, improving the ways we work, live and play.

Join us in connecting the world with 5G

You see us everywhere you see 5G.

Mar 4, 2022

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We make innovative products powered by ingenuity.

Our portfolio includes products for processors, modems, platforms, RF systems, and connectivity, plus products based on the end-use application of your design. We offer a full range of purpose-built, pre-packaged software, hardware, and tools that help you get your invention to market faster.

A history of firsts.

Origins

Leading the world from analog to digital and beyond.

In 1985, seven former Linkabit colleagues met in Irwin Jacobs’s home to create a company that would build “QUALity COMMunications.” These visionaries departed from the accepted telecommunications standards at the time to develop Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), forever changing wireless communications. CDMA became the foundation for all 3G networks worldwide, helping to define the latest 4G and 5G technologies for an intelligently connected future.

• 1985: Qualcomm founded
• 1995: CDMA rolled out commercially

Read about CDMA

More about Irwin Jacobs

Data goes mobile.

While mobile voice was an incredible leap, mobile data was a revolution. Thanks to 3G, people could not only use their mobile devices to speak to one another, but they could also watch and share videos, music, and other media. And it was all made possible by our inventions which solved the complex challenges that enabled CDMA, the backbone of 2G, to become the basis for all 3G networks.

Our EV-DO technologies optimized mobile broadband
Our 3G advancements led the way to 4G LTE

More about 3G

Better. Faster. Smarter.

Qualcomm’s 4G LTE technology inventions laid the foundation for the first global standard for mobile broadband. By licensing our technology and increasing our patent portfolio, we enabled the LTE ecosystem to grow to 600+ commercial networks worldwide.

We led the evolution of LTE, LTE Advanced and LTE Advanced Pro
LTE addressed the massive growth in mobile data traffic

More about 4G

Qualcomm 5G is transforming everything.

Qualcomm introduced the world to 5G, making the world more connected than it’s ever been. We’ve been developing 5G for years, investing in R&D to invent the foundational technologies that made 5G a reality. We maximized our 3G and 4G LTE expertise to develop 5G NR and mmWave, and then we licensed our 5G technologies—providing a pathway to making 5G a commercial reality.

5G was commercialized in 2019
Our breakthrough inventions make 5G possible

Read the 5G FAQs

See the full 5G timeline

The impact of invention.

Join us in creating what’s next.

We’re developing the critical wireless technologies the world runs on today. We’re hiring inventive individuals to help discover what’s next for 5G.

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See our international footprint.

Qualcomm is a company of inventors with diverse skills and backgrounds, who are driven to improve communication around the globe. Today, Qualcomm has 170 offices in more than 30 countries.

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Qualcomm Corporate Responsibility

Our people are committed to inventing solutions to complex problems and making the world a better place. Qualcomm strives to do this through employee programs as well as through charitable giving and community outreach. We believe in the power of technology to help shape a better future for all.

Qualcomm Corporate Responsibility

Investing in the spirit of invention.

Qualcomm Ventures

We drive invention and innovation by investing in visionary technology start-ups—across sectors from 5G to AI, to digital health, automotive and more.

Learn more

Qualcomm Investor Relations

As our technology continuously grows and evolves, we expect to maintain our position as a market leader; especially within the next generation of wireless technology, known as 5G.

Learn more

See how we’re changing the way the world connects, computes and communicates.

OnQ Blog

May 12, 2022

Practical innovations for 5G private networks

OnQ Blog

May 12, 2022

Vivo X Fold is the world’s first foldable smartphone with Qualcomm 3D Sonic Sensor Gen 2 Sensors in both displays

OnQ Blog

May 10, 2022

Advancing 5G to power the Connected Intelligent Edge: Watch Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon’s keynote address at 5G Summit 2...

Press Note

May 10, 2022

Qualcomm Advances Development of Smarter and Safer Autonomous Robots for Logistics, Industry 4.0, and Urban Aerial Mobil...

Press Note

May 10, 2022

Qualcomm Unveils New Features in Snapdragon X70 Modem-RF System

OnQ Blog

Nov 2, 2020

U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s GIPC publishes a case study about Qualcomm

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References to "Qualcomm" may mean Qualcomm Incorporated, or subsidiaries or business units within the Qualcomm corporate structure, as applicable.

Qualcomm Incorporated includes Qualcomm's licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of its patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of Qualcomm's engineering, research and development functions, and substantially all of its products and services businesses, including its QCT semiconductor business. Qualcomm products referenced herein are products of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.

Materials that are as of a specific date, including but not limited to press releases, presentations, blog posts and webcasts, may have been superseded by subsequent events or disclosures.

Nothing in these materials is an offer to sell any of the components or devices referenced herein.