The Origin Story of Qualcomm

The podcast discusses the history and strategic decisions behind the founding of Qualcomm. It begins by detailing how Qualcomm's founders, formerly of Linkabit, developed a video scrambling system for pay TV and later sold their company. After a leadership change, they left and identified the potential in the emerging wireless communications industry, specifically cellular technology. They recognized the limitations of existing analog car phone systems and the opportunity to improve efficiency through digital technology. They started Qualcomm by initially doing consulting work for companies like Hughes, while simultaneously developing and patenting CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), a technique for more efficiently using communication channels, which became a foundational technology for cellular networks. The hosts explain the evolution from FDMA to TDMA and then to CDMA, highlighting the significance of Qualcomm's patent and its impact on the telecommunications industry.