Qualcomm Incorporated is an American multinational semiconductor and telecommunications corporation specializing in the development and commercialization of wireless telecommunications products and services. Headquartered in San Diego, California, and incorporated in Delaware, the company operates primarily through its Qualcomm CDMA Technologies (QCT) segment, which designs and manufactures semiconductor products like the Snapdragon mobile processors that power a significant portion of the world's smartphones, and its Qualcomm Technology Licensing (QTL) segment, which generates revenue through licensing its extensive patent portfolio essential to mobile communication standards such as CDMA, 3G (WCDMA and TD-SCDMA), 4G LTE, and 5G. Founded in 1985 by a group of engineers from Linkabit, Qualcomm initially focused on satellite communications before pivoting to code-division multiple access (CDMA) technology, which revolutionized mobile telephony.

Over the decades, Qualcomm has grown into a pivotal player in the global tech industry, supplying chipsets to major device manufacturers including Apple, Samsung, and Huawei, and investing heavily in emerging technologies like automotive connectivity (via Snapdragon Automotive), IoT, and AI. The company has faced significant legal and regulatory challenges, including antitrust investigations by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the European Commission, and authorities in China over its licensing practices, resulting in a $1.1 billion fine from the EU in 2018 for paying Apple to use its chips exclusively. Despite these controversies, Qualcomm remains a leader in wireless innovation, with a market capitalization exceeding $150 billion as of recent reports and ongoing R&D investments surpassing $7 billion annually.

Qualcomm's influence extends beyond hardware through its standards-essential patents (SEPs), which it licenses on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms, though disputes have led to high-profile lawsuits, such as the prolonged battle with Broadcom resolved in 2018 and ongoing tensions with Arm Holdings over architecture licensing. The company's strategic acquisitions, like NXP Semiconductors (attempted in 2018 for $44 billion, blocked by U.S. regulators on national security grounds), underscore its ambitions in diversifying into adjacent markets while navigating geopolitical tensions in the semiconductor supply chain.