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Stocks (from 26) Under contract from Hughes Aircraft
In the company’s early years, under con-
Qualcomm (QCOM)
tract from Hughes Aircraft, Qualcomm’s
goal had been to develop CDMA for a com-
Today, almost everyone mercial satellite network. That project was
has a smartphone. If scrapped in 1988, according to Wikipedia.
it’s an Apple iPhone, it’s
based on the proprietary Qualcomm’s product are semiconductors
Apple operating sys- and services across a broad range of wire-
tem (iOS). Non-Apple less networking products from cellphones
phones use the Android to enterprise networks.
operating system. The
defining network plat- Acquires NXP Semiconductors
forms GSM or CDMA. To- In October 2016, Qualcomm planned to
day, many phones offer acquire Dutch NXP Semiconductors for
both in a single phone. $47 billion. While the NXP deal was in
the works, competitor Broadcom sought
Your phone is carrier-dependent to buy Qualcomm in a hostile takeover for
In every case, the communications net- $121 billion, which Qualcomm rejected.
work defines which telecom carriers you
are able to use. CDMA does not require a Even if Qualcomm had agreed to becoming
SIM card, GSM does. Most carriers only of- part of its competitor, the Trump adminis-
fer either CDMA or GSM. By usage, GSM is tration said the deal would not pass secu-
used by 80 percent worldwide. rity concerns of the United States.
Fabless Qualcomm in San Diego, Calif. NXP deal failed
dominates CDMA technology with its Snap- The NXP deal also failed after China re-
dragon chip sets. Early on, the company jected it in July 2018. It would have been
conducted research into CDMA, creating the largest semiconductor industry buyout
many key patents covering the technology. in history.
The company was founded in July 1985 by Like its California competitor Broadcom,
seven former employees of Linkabit. The the company is a favorite of the stock
name was formed from an amalgam of market.
QUALity COMMunications, and began as a
contract R&D center. The company reported its Q122 financials
last month, and the results were glowing.
For the fiscal quarter, Qualcomm reported
GAAP revenue of $10.70B, compared to its
comparable Q121 of $8.23B, a gain this
time of 35%.
Investor’s Business Daily (2/07/22) says,
“Qualcomm stock set its sight beyond the
smartphone as key customer Apple (AAPL)
mulls its own iPhone 5G chips.
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Qualcomm’s San Diego headquarters
