Qualcomm Incorporated
Lithuania → USA
Technology & Computing
Summary
Qualcomm was founded in 1985 in San Diego by Irwin Mark Jacobs, born in 1933 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, to Lithuanian-Jewish immigrant parents, and Andrew Viterbi, an Italian-Jewish immigrant born in Bergamo in 1935 who had arrived in the United States in 1939. Jacobs and Viterbi had earlier co-founded Linkabit (1968). With five other partners they founded Qualcomm — “Quality Communications” — to develop satellite communications and digital wireless. The company’s CDMA technology became the foundation of one of two global mobile-phone standards, and Qualcomm chipsets now power most of the world’s smartphones.
European Contribution
Lithuanian-Jewish and Italian-Jewish intellectual traditions, transmitted through immigrant family heritage to a Cold War American technical generation.
American Impact
Built the foundational American wireless-technology company; CDMA and Qualcomm chipsets underpin most of the modern global smartphone industry.
Timeline Highlights
- 1933 Irwin Jacobs born in Massachusetts
- 1968 Jacobs and Viterbi co-found Linkabit
- 1985 Qualcomm founded in San Diego
- 1993 CDMA cellular standard commercialised
- Present Qualcomm chipsets in most global smartphones