Today, at Re/code’s inaugural Code Conference, Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf sat down with Kara Swisher to discuss his new role as Qualcomm CEO, his management style, Qualcomm business partners and, of course, hot tech topics, particularly those being transformed and enhanced by mobile.
Here’s how it went down, right after Mollenkopf sat down on “the hot seat”:
Swisher opened by asking him about taking over from former CEO Paul Jacobs. “Any time you have a founder culture, there's incredible strength,” he said. “That’s what we have.”
And the company is evolving, he said. After first focusing on building technology, then licensing it, Qualcomm is now able to focus on new businesses, like bringing chips into adjacent markets.
Mollenkopf spoke about the aggressive nature of the mobile industry. He noted that Qualcomm is a quietly intense company, not striving for the limelight but oftentimes preferring to be behind the scenes, ensuring success for the entire mobile ecosystem.
“We don't bet on any individual platform. We try to provide technology to people at scale,” he said. “The ability to predict the outcome—who is gonna win and who is gonna lose—never worked for our business. We try to support everyone and let the market decide the winners.”
