Item 1. Business
We incorporated in California in 1985 and reincorporated in Delaware in 1991. We operate and report using a 52-53 week fiscal year ending on the last Sunday in September. Our 52-week fiscal years consist of four equal fiscal quarters of 13 weeks each, and our 53-week fiscal years consist of three 13-week fiscal quarters and one 14-week fiscal quarter. The financial results for our 53-week fiscal years and our 14-week fiscal quarters will not be exactly comparable to our 52-week fiscal years and our 13-week fiscal quarters. Our fiscal years for 2023, 2022 and 2021 included 52 weeks.
Overview
We are a global leader in the development and commercialization of foundational technologies for the wireless industry, including 3G (third generation), 4G (fourth generation) and 5G (fifth generation) wireless connectivity, and high-performance and low-power computing including on-device artificial intelligence (AI). Our technologies and products deliver intelligent computing and advanced connectivity in mobile devices and other products. Our inventions have helped power the growth in smartphones and other connected devices. We are scaling our innovations across industries and applications beyond handsets, including automotive and the internet of things (IoT). In automotive, our connectivity, digital cockpit and advanced driver assistance and automated driving (ADAS/AD) platforms are helping to connect the car to its environment and the cloud, creating unique in-cabin experiences and enabling a comprehensive assisted and automated driving solution. In IoT, our inventions have helped power growth in industries and applications such as consumer (including computing, voice and music and extended reality (XR)), edge networking (including mobile broadband and wireless access points) and industrial (including handhelds, retail, tracking and logistics and utilities). We derive revenues principally from sales of integrated circuit products, including our Snapdragon® family of highly-integrated, system-based solutions, and licensing of our intellectual property, including patents and other rights.
The foundational technologies we invent help power the modern mobile experience, impacting how the world connects, computes and communicates. We share these inventions broadly through our licensing programs enabling wide ecosystem access to technologies at the core of mobile innovation, and through the sale of our integrated circuit platforms (also known as integrated circuit products, chips, chipsets or modules) and other products. We innovate with purpose and collaborate across many ecosystems, including with manufacturers, operators, developers, system integrators, cloud providers, test tool vendors, service providers, governments and industry standards organizations, to enable a global environment of continued progress and growth.
We have a long history of driving innovation and continue to play a leading role in developing system-level inventions that serve as the foundation for 3G, 4G and 5G wireless technologies. This includes technologies such as CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) and OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) families of technologies, with the latter encompassing LTE (Long-Term Evolution) and 5G NR (New Radio), which are the primary digital technologies currently used to transmit voice or data over radio waves using a public or private cellular wireless network.
We own significant intellectual property, including patents, patent applications and trade secrets, applicable to products that implement any version of CDMA and/or OFDMA technologies. The mobile industry generally recognizes that any
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company seeking to develop, manufacture and/or sell devices or infrastructure equipment that use CDMA-based and/or OFDMA-based technologies requires a license or other rights to use our patents. We also develop and commercialize numerous other key technologies used in mobile and other devices and services, and we own substantial intellectual property related to these technologies. Some of these inventions are contributed to and commercialized as industry standards, such as for certain video and audio codecs, Wi-Fi, position location, UWB (ultra-wideband) and Bluetooth®. We have also developed other technologies that are used by wireless and other devices that are not related to industry standards, such as operating systems, user interfaces, graphics and camera processing functionality, RF (radio frequency), RFFE (radio frequency front-end) and antenna designs, AI and machine learning techniques and application processor architectures. Our patents cover a wide range of technologies across the entire wireless system (including wireless devices and network infrastructure equipment), not just the portion of such patented technologies incorporated into chipsets.
We are organized on the basis of products and services and have three reportable segments. We conduct business primarily through our QCT (Qualcomm CDMA Technologies) semiconductor business and our QTL (Qualcomm Technology Licensing) licensing business. QCT develops and supplies integrated circuits and system software based on 3G/4G/5G and other technologies, including RFFE, for use in mobile devices; automotive systems for connectivity, digital cockpit and ADAS/AD; and IoT including consumer electronic devices; industrial devices; and edge networking products. QTL grants licenses or otherwise provides rights to use portions of our intellectual property portfolio, which includes certain patent rights essential to and/or useful in the manufacture and sale of certain wireless products. Our QSI (Qualcomm Strategic Initiatives) reportable segment makes strategic investments. We also have nonreportable segments, including QGOV (Qualcomm Government Technologies) and our cloud computing processing initiative (formerly referred to as our cloud AI inference processing initiative).
Industry Trends
As the largest technology platform in the world, mobile has transformed the way we connect, compute and communicate. Advanced connectivity and high-performance, low-power computing technologies from mobile are also impacting many industries beyond wireless, empowering new services, new business models, and new ways to engage and interact with customers. Our breakthrough inventions and licensing programs have been integral to the demand and evolution of the mobile industry.
Intelligent Computing. Advancements in processor technologies have enabled distribution of complex workloads across the network, with more computing done in edge devices where data is generated. Given the proximity to raw data, edge computing allows for more intelligent processing, reducing response time, improving privacy and security, and enabling greater personalization. With increased processing power, mobile is becoming a pervasive AI platform, with complex large generative AI algorithms running on-device, enabling on-demand and contextual AI use cases. As 5G wireless connectivity complements on-device generative AI, edge devices enable enhanced productivity use cases, while intelligently processing and sharing data with cloud-based applications as needed. Building on the smartphone foundation and the scale of mobile, we envision generative AI becoming ubiquitous, expanding beyond smartphones into industries and applications such as compute, IoT, XR and automotive.
Complex large language models (LLMs), large vision models (LVMs) and other generative AI models that can generate new content, are beginning to change the landscape of the consumer user experience. LLMs (e.g., GPT-4 and Llama2) are useful for text-based natural language processing applications such as answering queries, document summarization and creation, while LVMs (e.g., Stable Diffusion and ControlNet) are useful for image and video processing. They are disrupting traditional methods of search, content creation, recommendation systems and personalized digital assistants, offering significant enhancements in consumer utility and productivity. We believe that a variety of innovative enterprise and consumer use cases will emerge from generative AI, especially as LLMs and LVMs are run on-device ingesting multiple modalities (such as text, voice, camera, infrared, RADAR and LiDAR sensors) and bring in the benefits of immediacy, privacy, security and personalization to consumers.
Advancing Connectivity. 3G technology introduced the world to the potential of the mobile internet, and the ability to access the internet virtually anytime and anywhere. 4G brought mobile broadband speeds that helped fuel the smartphone era, forever changing the way we work, live and connect with others. 4G has served as the technology foundation for many of the applications and services used today, including e-commerce, video streaming, video calling, social media and gaming.
Building on foundational innovations developed for 3G and 4G, the mobile industry continues to transition to 5G technology as 5G network deployments and device launches continue, particularly in emerging regions. Beginning with the Release 15 specification issued by 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), an organization that develops technical specifications, 5G is designed to support multi-gigabit data rates, low latency and greater capacity than previous generations of mobile technology to enable enhanced mobile broadband experiences, including ultra-high definition (4K) video streaming and sharing, near-instantaneous access to cloud services, immersive cloud gaming and XR, which includes augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR). 5G's performance and capacity improvements are also enabling operators to offer new consumer and enterprise services while also reducing their operating costs.
Consumer Demand for Smartphones. For calendar year 2023, we estimate that consumer demand for 3G, 4G, and 5G handset volumes will decrease by a mid to high-single digit percentage relative to calendar year 2022. Such expected decline in demand is primarily driven by weakness in the macroeconomic environment (which has negatively impacted consumer demand for smartphones).
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Consumer demand for new experiences, combined with the needs of mobile operators and device manufacturers to provide differentiated features and services, is driving continued innovation within the smartphone across connectivity, processing, AI, multimedia, imaging, audio and more. As a result, the smartphone continues to be the go-to device for social networking, music and video streaming, photography and video capture, e-commerce, gaming, email, web browsing and more. We believe that the combination of 5G and AI will enable these experiences to be more immersive, intuitive and interactive.
Automotive. According to analyst data, 71% of new vehicles produced in 2030 are projected to have embedded cellular connectivity, with 71% of those vehicles featuring 5G connectivity. By comparison, an estimated 63% of vehicles produced in 2023 will have embedded cellular connectivity, with 5G connectivity beginning to ramp (TechInsights, October 2023).
Digitalization of the automotive cockpit continues to transform the in-vehicle experience, enabling greater personalization of content and settings for both drivers and passengers as automakers respond to growing interest from consumers to bring their digital lifestyles into the vehicle. Car-to-cloud platforms are helping automakers improve cost efficiencies, create new service opportunities throughout the lifecycle of a vehicle with over-the-air (OTA) update capabilities and valuable vehicle and usage analytics. This is driving the development of a new architecture for the software-defined vehicle. High-performance, low-power computing technologies from mobile are being used to improve vehicles with advanced driver assistance and automated driving features that we expect to scale across vehicle tiers and continue the progression toward higher levels of autonomy, safety and convenience. Analysts estimate that 31% of new light duty vehicles sold globally in 2026 will have Level 2 (i.e., partial driving automation) or higher autonomy, compared to an estimated 15% of new light duty vehicles sold globally in 2023 (TechInsights, September 2023).
IoT. Industry demand for IoT devices continued to grow across consumer, edge networking and industrial applications in fiscal 2023; however, as a result of the current macroeconomic environment the growth rate slowed compared to prior projections and elevated channel inventory lowered demand for semiconductors from multiple industries within IoT in fiscal 2023. The installed base of IoT devices, which includes everything from wearables to industrial handhelds to gateways, is projected to increase by 70% from 2023 to 2026 (ABI Research, June 2023).
Consumer. Consumer IoT products continue to adopt the latest mobile connectivity, processing and intelligence technologies, including personal computing (e.g., tablets and personal computers), connected audio (e.g., wireless earbuds, speakers and soundbars), wearables (e.g., smart watches), XR devices (e.g., VR headsets and AR glasses) and others (e.g., camera and video collaboration, exercise equipment and home appliances). This is enabling new services, applications and experiences.
Edge Networking. Advances in wireless technology are helping to drive demand for edge networking products (including mobile broadband and wireless access points). 5G provides the flexibility to support both mobile and fixed wireless users with the delivery of high-speed, low-latency connections, enabling operators to replace traditional "last-mile" wired broadband connections. Additionally, advancements in Wi-Fi are driving consumer and enterprise demand for the latest Wi-Fi 6, 6E, and 7 access point technologies that leverage increased network speed, capacity and efficiency to support the increased number of connected devices at home and at work.
Industrial. The combination of IoT devices with connectivity, computing, on-device AI, and power-optimized and precise location tracking along with the cloud are helping to bring near real-time data and insights in industries such as retail, transportation, logistics, utilities and energy. This allows companies to gain new knowledge and insights about their products and services, manufacturing and logistics processes and more, which can help to transform, optimize and innovate their business.
Technology Overview
The worldwide demand for wireless devices, data services and applications requires continuous innovation to improve the user experiences, support new services, expand on-device processing and AI capabilities at low power, and increase wireless connectivity capacity and performance. To meet these requirements, different foundational technologies including wireless communications, multimedia, location and computing, continue to evolve. We have a long history of investing heavily in research and development and have developed many of these foundational technologies that help drive the continued evolution of the wireless industry. As a result, we have developed and commercialized leading edge chipset platforms for mobile, automotive and IoT. We have also developed and acquired (and continue to develop and acquire) significant related intellectual property. This intellectual property has been incorporated into the most widely accepted and deployed cellular wireless communications technology standards, and we have licensed it to several hundred licensees, including all of the leading handset manufacturers.
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Cellular Wireless Technologies. Relevant cellular wireless technologies can be grouped into the following categories.
CDMA-based. CDMA-based technologies are characterized by their access method allowing several users to share the same frequency and time by allocating different orthogonal codes to individual users. Most of the CDMA-based technologies are classified as 3G technology. CDMA-based connections worldwide continue to decline as consumers migrate to OFDMA-based technologies, which comprise the majority of total cellular connections today.
OFDMA-based. OFDMA-based technologies are characterized by their access method allowing several users to share the same frequency band and time by allocating different subcarriers to individual users. Most of the OFDMA-based technologies deployed prior to 2020 are classified as 4G technology. 3GPP developed the 4G system through the specification of the radio component (LTE) and the core network component (Enhanced Packet Core or EPC). LTE is designed to seamlessly interwork with 3G technologies through multimode devices, and can use bandwidths of 20 MHz or more through aggregation. LTE Advanced brings many more enhancements, including carrier aggregation, advanced multi-antenna techniques and optimizations for small cells. 5G heavily leverages OFDMA-based technologies; 3GPP has developed the 5G system through the specification of the radio component (NR) and the core network component (5G Core or 5GC). Unlike 4G that has fixed Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) parameterization, 5G has multiple OFDM parameterizations to address a wide range of spectrum and use cases.
Release 14 of 3GPP specifications began to provide enhancements specifically for C-V2X (cellular vehicle-to-everything), which includes both direct communication (vehicle-to-vehicle, vehicle-to-infrastructure and vehicle-to-pedestrian) in dedicated spectrum that is independent of a cellular network and cellular communications with networks in traditional mobile broadband licensed spectrum.
The wireless industry is actively developing and commercializing 5G technologies. The first 5G specification, 3GPP Release 15, was initially completed in 2018. 5G is designed to transform the role of wireless technologies and incorporates advancements on 3G/4G features, including device-to-device capabilities and the use of all different types of spectrum (including licensed, unlicensed and shared spectrum). Many of our inventions at the core of 3G and 4G serve as the foundational technologies for 5G, and we continue to play a significant role in driving advancements in 5G, including contributing to 3GPP standardization activities that are defining the continued evolution of 5G NR and 5G Core standards.
5G has the ability to target diverse services with very different technical requirements (from enhanced mobile broadband to massive IoT to mission critical services), utilize diverse types of spectrum (from low bands to millimeter wave (mmWave) bands) and support diverse types of deployment scenarios. Predominant technological components of 5G include ultra-reliable, low-latency communication, very wide channel bandwidth and new channel coding schemes to efficiently support large data blocks, MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) to increase coverage and network capacity and mobile mmWave to increase the data rate offered to users. As with previous cellular generations, 5G is designed to support seamless compatibility with 3G/4G technologies through multimode devices.
Following the initial specification of 5G in 3GPP Release 15, 3GPP completed two additional releases. Release 16 introduced enhancements to 5G mobile broadband experiences (e.g., more capacity, improved coverage, mobility and better device power efficiency), expanded 5G technologies into new use cases and industries and began supporting different spectrum types by expanding 5G into unlicensed spectrum with 5G NR Unlicensed (NR-U). Release 17 became the third major release of the global 5G NR standard expanding the 5G technology foundations for coverage, mobility, power and reliability, which is designed to provide efficient support for lower complexity 5G devices including wearables, industrial sensors, and new deployments, including non-terrestrial networks and mmWave private networks on unlicensed 60 GHz spectrum band. Release 18, which remains under development, marks the start of 5G Advanced, with projects designed to strengthen the end-to-end 5G system foundation (such as advanced downlink and uplink MIMO, enhanced mobility, mobile integrated access and backhaul, smart repeater, evolved duplexing, AI and machine learning data-driven designs and green networks) and to proliferate 5G to virtually all devices and use cases (such as boundless extended reality, NR-light evolution, expanded sidelink, expanded positioning, drones and expanded satellite communication and multicast).
Other (Non-Cellular) Wireless Technologies. There are other, non-cellular wireless technologies that have also been widely adopted.
Wireless Local Area Networks. Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN), such as Wi-Fi, link two or more nearby devices wirelessly and usually provide connectivity through an access point. We are actively involved in innovative programs developed in the context of the Wi-Fi Alliance, a non-profit organization that drives global Wi-Fi adoption and evolution. Wi-Fi systems are based primarily on standards developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 802.11 Working Group. Amendments of the 802.11 standard are commonly referred to by the names made popular by the Wi-Fi Alliance (for example, 802.11ax is known as Wi-Fi 6). Wi-Fi 6 adds advanced features such as downlink and uplink OFDMA and uplink multiple-user MIMO. This technology primarily targets connectivity for mobile devices, tablets, laptops and other consumer electronic devices using the 2.4GHz and 5GHz spectrum bands. We continue to play a leading role in the evolution of the 802.11 family of standards with the development of the new 802.11be standard, known as Wi-Fi 7. Wi-Fi 7 introduces enhanced speeds, latency and network capacity plus support for advanced features like 320MHz channels, standardizing the advanced modulation scheme 4K QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation), and advanced multi-link implementations such as High Band Simultaneous Multi-Link to deliver optimal performance. Both Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 7 generation implementations can achieve significant benefits from the global trend towards increased availability of license exempt spectrum in the 6GHz frequency band.
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Bluetooth. Bluetooth is a wireless personal area network that provides wireless connectivity between devices over short distances ranging from a few centimeters to approximately one hundred meters using the 2.4GHz industrial, scientific and medical spectrum band. Bluetooth technology provides wireless connectivity to a wide range of fixed or mobile consumer electronic devices. Bluetooth functionalities are standardized by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group in various versions of the specification (Bluetooth Core specification versions range from 1.0 to 5.4), which include different functionalities, such as enhanced data rate, low energy, mesh, audio, telephony, automotive, human interface device and location technologies. We are a leading contributor to Bluetooth technologies in the areas of mobile devices and audio and mesh technologies.
Position Location Technologies. Position location technologies continue to evolve in order to deliver an enhanced location experience and comply with new mandates on location for E911 (enhanced 911) calls. We are a key developer of the Assisted-Global Positioning System (A-GPS), Assisted Global Navigation Satellite System (A-GNSS) and WLAN positioning technologies used in most cellular handsets today. For uses requiring the best reliability and accuracy for E911 services and navigational based services, A-GPS, A-GNSS and WLAN provide leading-edge solutions. We continue to invest in the standardization and productization of many 4G- and 5G-based positioning capabilities, including in 3GPP Releases 16, 17 and 18.
The industry continues to evolve to support additional inputs for improving the location experience. Our products and intellectual property now support multiple constellations for A-GNSS, including: GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, NavIC, BeiDou, QZSS and SBAS augmentation systems; Wi-Fi-based and Bluetooth-based positioning for WLAN, including Wi-Fi RSSI (received signal strength indication) and Wi-Fi RTT (round-trip time) signals for indoor location; observed time difference of arrival positioning for LTE access (e.g., in rural and indoor areas); and third-party inertial sensors. The combination of these different location solutions is used to ensure accurate location availability in all areas. We are also a leader in the standardization of high accuracy position techniques for 5G NR access and support techniques to improve resilience of location.
Additional Significant Technologies used in Cellular and Other Industries.
On-device AI. Our fundamental research and comprehensive approach to AI helps enable us to be a leader in on-device AI solutions. The Qualcomm® AI Engine, featured in our Snapdragon platforms and many of our other products provides high-performance on-device AI solutions at extremely low power to support complex use cases, while enhancing privacy and security. The Qualcomm® AI Stack is a unified AI software portfolio designed to help developers optimize and deploy AI models quickly using our chipset solutions by supporting AI frameworks and runtimes, developer libraries, system software and popular operating systems.
Multimedia Technologies. We are a leading innovator in video, audio and speech compression technologies and system-level solutions enabling feature-rich, high-quality experiences in imaging, audio and vision intelligence. We are a leading contributor to the advancement of video compression performance, including contributions to the H.265/HEVC standard (deployed to support Ultra High Definition 4K and beyond video), and the next generation H.266/VVC standard, which are designed to power the creation and consumption of richer, immersive media experiences. Proprietary video codecs, including VP9 and AV1, have also adopted our solutions due to their impact to video compression technology. Video compression technologies are used in a number of products such as cellular handsets, tablets, laptops and desktop computers, cameras, servers, gaming consoles, televisions and streaming services.
We have developed additional significant multimedia technologies, including: camera and imaging technologies; vision intelligence technologies, which enable advanced use cases such as smart image processing, AR/VR and robotics; visual augmentation and frameworks and audio frameworks, both of which allow for human-machine interfaces; speech compression innovations; and spatial audio processing and coding enabling compression and rendering of immersive audio.
Other Technologies. In addition to the above, we continue to play a leading role in developing and/or have acquired many of the other technologies used across the wireless system, computing and edge networking, including in cellular handsets and certain other consumer electronic devices and networks, including:
•operating system and user interface features;
•XR platform features such as 6DoF (six-degrees of freedom) head tracking and controller capabilities, video pass-through and embedded cellular connectivity for new types of user experiences;
•security and content protection systems for enhanced device security without compromising the user experience;
•volatile (LPDDR4, 5) and non-volatile (eMMC) memory and related controllers;
•fast charging features, enabling devices to charge quickly, safely and efficiently;
•Qualcomm® Smart Transmit™ technology, a modem-to-antenna technology that optimizes data speeds while complying with RF transmit power limits;
•power management systems for improved battery life and device charging; and
•System-on-Chip (SoC) architecture with heterogeneous computing features, which uses different types of specialized engines (Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) and Neural Processing Unit (NPU)) to enable high performance and low-power computing and other optimization techniques.
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Acquisitions
We make strategic investments and acquisitions in order to open new opportunities for our technologies, support the design and introduction of new products and services (or enhance existing products or services), obtain resources with development and/or market expertise, grow our patent portfolio or pursue new businesses as part of our strategic plan. Information regarding our acquisitions is provided in this Annual Report in "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 9. Acquisitions and Divestitures."
Operating Segments
We have three reportable segments. We conduct business primarily through QCT and QTL, while QSI makes strategic investments. Additional information regarding our operating segments is provided in this Annual Report in "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 8. Segment Information."
QCT Segment. QCT is a leading developer and supplier of integrated circuits and system software based on 3G/4G/5G and other technologies for use in wireless voice and data communications, networking, computing, multimedia and position location products. QCT's integrated circuit products are sold and its system software is licensed to manufacturers that use our products in a broad range of devices, from low-tier, entry-level devices primarily for emerging regions to premium-tier devices, including but not limited to mobile devices, wireless networks, devices used in IoT, broadband gateway equipment, consumer electronic devices and automotive systems for connectivity, digital cockpit and ADAS/AD. Our technology roadmap delivers the latest network technologies across multiple product tiers, devices and industries. This roadmap is the result of extensive collaboration with manufacturers, operators, developers, systems integrators, cloud providers, tool vendors, service providers, governments and industry standards organizations, as well as our years of research into emerging network standards and the development of integrated circuits. Our roadmap takes advantage of new standards, while maintaining backward compatibility with existing standards. We have leveraged and expect to continue to leverage the foundational technologies initially developed and commercialized for use in mobile handset devices, such as our core baseband modem and processor technologies and our other wireless connectivity products including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and precise positioning technologies, to extend into product categories, industries and applications beyond mobile handsets, such as automotive and IoT (which includes the industries and applications of consumer, industrial and edge networking).
The Snapdragon family of highly integrated, system-based solutions include the Snapdragon mobile, compute, sound and automotive platforms. Each platform consists of application processors and wireless connectivity capabilities, including our cellular modem that provides core baseband modem functionality for voice and data communications, non-cellular wireless connectivity (such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth) and global positioning functions. Our Snapdragon application processor functions include AI / NPU, CPU, security, graphics, display, audio, video and camera. Our CPUs are designed to deliver high levels of compute performance with optimized power consumption. Our Qualcomm® Hexagon™ NPUs are designed to support a variety of AI processing tasks for superior performance-per-watt. Our Qualcomm® Adreno™ graphics processing units are designed to deliver high quality graphics performance for visually rich 3D gaming and user interfaces. In addition to the highly integrated core SoC, we also design and supply supporting components, including the RF transceiver, PM (power management), audio, codecs, speaker amps and additional wireless connectivity integrated circuits. These supporting components, in addition to our cellular modems and application processors comprising our core SoC, are also sold as individual components. The combination of the Snapdragon SoC, system software and supporting components provides an overall platform with optimized performance and efficiency, enabling manufacturers to design and deliver powerful, slim and power-efficient devices ready for integration with the complex cellular networks worldwide.
Our portfolio of RF products includes Qualcomm® RFFE components that are designed to simplify the RF front-end design for 5G, including sub-6 GHz and mmWave, as well as, for 4G LTE multimode and mobile devices, to reduce power consumption and to improve radio performance. We provide comprehensive RFFE product offerings with system level performance from the modem and transceiver to the antenna that include complex 4G/5G transmit and receive modules, power tracking, tuning systems, multimode-multiband power amplification, low noise amplifiers and mmWave antenna solutions, in addition to discrete filtering products, for devices and applications across the mobile handsets, automotive and IoT industries. We have also integrated our Snapdragon platform with our RFFE components to create our Snapdragon 5G modem-RF products, the world's first commercial modem-to-antenna 5G solution designed to maximize data speeds and performance, support superior call connectivity and coverage and extend battery life.
Our wireless connectivity products also consist of integrated circuits and system software for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and frequency modulation, as well as technologies that support location data and services. Our wireless connectivity products provide additional connectivity for mobile devices, tablets, laptops, XR headsets, voice and music devices, wearable devices, along with other IoT devices and applications, automotive connectivity, digital cockpit and ADAS/AD, utility meters and logistic trackers and industrial sensors. QCT also offers standalone Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, applications processor and Ethernet products utilized within these devices and systems. Our networking products include Wi-Fi, Ethernet and Powerline chips, network processors, wireless access points and routers, broadband gateway equipment and software. These products help enable home and business networks to support the growing number of connected devices, digital media and data services.
Other than for certain of our RFFE modules and RF filter products, QCT utilizes a fabless production model, which means that we do not own or operate foundries for the production of silicon wafers from which our integrated circuits are made. Therefore, we primarily rely on third parties to perform the manufacturing and assembly, and most of the testing, of our integrated circuits based primarily on our proprietary designs and test programs. Our suppliers also are responsible for the
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procurement of most of the raw materials used in the production of our integrated circuits. Integrated circuits are die cut from silicon wafers that have completed the package assembly and test manufacturing processes. The semiconductor package supports the electrical contacts that connect the integrated circuit to a circuit board. Die cut from silicon wafers are the essential components of all of our integrated circuits and a significant portion of the total integrated circuit cost. We employ both turnkey and two-stage manufacturing models to purchase our integrated circuits. Under the turnkey model, our foundry suppliers are responsible for delivering fully assembled and tested integrated circuits. Under the two-stage manufacturing model, we purchase die in singular or wafer form from semiconductor manufacturing foundries and contract with separate third parties for manufacturing services such as wafer bump, probe, assembly and the majority of our final test requirements. The primary foundry suppliers for our various digital, analog/mixed-signal, RF and PM integrated circuits are Global Foundries, Samsung Electronics, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). Our primary semiconductor assembly and test suppliers are Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Amkor Technology, Siliconware Precision Industries and STATSChipPAC. The majority of our foundry and semiconductor assembly and test suppliers are located in the Asia-Pacific region.
QCT primarily uses internal fabrication facilities to manufacture certain RFFE modules and RF filter products, and our manufacturing operations consist of front-end and back-end processes. The front-end processes primarily take place at manufacturing facilities located in Germany and Singapore and involve the imprinting of substrate wafers with the structure and circuitry required for the products to function (also known as wafer fabrication). The back-end processes include the assembly, packaging and test of RFFE modules and RF filter products and their preparation for distribution. Our back-end manufacturing facilities are located in China and Singapore.
QCT's sales are primarily made through supply terms which implement a purchase order and order confirmation process for delivery of products. QCT generally allows customers to reschedule delivery dates within a defined time frame and to cancel orders prior to shipment with or without payment of a cancellation fee, depending on when the order is canceled. The industry in which QCT operates is intensely competitive. QCT competes worldwide with a number of U.S. and international designers and manufacturers of semiconductors. As a result of global expansion by foreign and domestic competitors, technological changes, device manufacturer concentrations, limited global supply capacity, vertical integration and the potential for further industry consolidation, we anticipate the industry to remain very competitive. We believe that the principal competitive factors for our products include performance, level of integration, quality, compliance with industry standards, price, time-to-market, system cost, design and engineering capabilities, new product innovation, growth and scaling of distribution channels, desire by certain customers to use multiple suppliers and customer support. QCT also competes in both single-mode and multimode environments against alternative communications technologies. Additional competitive factors exist for QCT product offerings that have expanded into industries and applications beyond mobile handsets, including automotive and IoT. The automotive industry is subject to long design-in time frames, long product life cycles and a high degree of regulatory and safety requirements, necessitating suppliers to the industry to comply with stringent qualification processes, very low defect rates and high reliability standards, all of which results in a significant barrier to entry and may result in increased costs.
QCT's current competitors include, but are not limited to, companies such as Apple, Broadcom, HiSilicon, MediaTek, Mobileye, Nvidia, NXP Semiconductors, Qorvo, Samsung, Skyworks, Texas Instruments and UNISOC. QCT currently faces competition, which may intensify in the future, from products internally developed by our customers, including some of our largest customers, to early-stage companies. Our competitors devote significant amounts of their financial, technical and other resources to develop and market competitive products and, in some cases, to develop and adopt competitive digital communication or signal processing technologies, and those efforts may materially and adversely affect us. Although we have attained a significant position in the wireless industry, many of our current and potential competitors may have advantages over us. These and other risks related to competition are more fully described in the Risk Factors entitled "Our industry is subject to intense competition in an environment of rapid technological change. Our success depends in part on our ability to adapt to such change and compete effectively; and such change and competition could result in decreased demand for our products and technologies or declining average selling prices for our products or those of our customers or licensees" and "Our business, particularly our semiconductor business, may suffer as a result of our customers vertically integrating (i.e., developing their own integrated circuit products)."
QTL Segment. QTL grants licenses or otherwise provides rights to use portions of our intellectual property portfolio, which, among other rights, includes certain patent rights essential to and/or useful in the manufacture, sale and/or use of certain wireless products, including, without limitation, products implementing WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), LTE and/or OFDMA-based 5G standards and their derivatives. We grant licenses or otherwise provide rights to use our cellular standard-essential patents (including 3G, 4G and 5G) for both single-mode and multimode devices on a worldwide basis. We also offer licenses to our cellular standard-essential patents together with other Qualcomm patents that may be useful to such licensed products for licensees that desire to obtain the commercial benefits of receiving such broad patent rights from us. While we offer license rights to patents that we do not have a duty or obligation to grant, those rights may be negotiated at our discretion. A significant portion of QTL's licensing revenues is derived from licensees that have entered into license agreements that grant licenses under Qualcomm's cellular standard-essential patents. Our licensees manufacture wireless cellular products such as mobile devices (including handsets), other consumer devices (e.g., tablets and laptops), plug-in end user data modem cards and embedded modules for incorporation into machine-to-machine devices and certain other devices, connected vehicle units and connected vehicle modules used in automobiles, wireless access points and small cell wireless products.
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Since our founding in 1985, we have focused heavily on technology development and innovation. These efforts have resulted in a leading intellectual property portfolio related to foundational, system level technologies for the wireless industry. We have an extensive portfolio of United States and foreign patents, and we continue to pursue patent applications around the world. Our patents have broad coverage in many countries, including Brazil, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, the United States and countries in Europe (including European patents with unitary effect). A substantial portion of our patents and patent applications relate to digital wireless communications technologies, including patents that are essential or may be important to the commercial implementation of CDMA2000, WCDMA (UMTS), LTE and/or OFDMA-based 5G products. Our patent portfolio is the most widely and extensively licensed in the industry, including more than 200 5G license agreements to date. Additionally, we have a substantial patent portfolio related to key technologies used in communications and other devices and/or related services, some of which are covered by industry standards. These include certain video codecs, audio codecs, Wi-Fi, memory interfaces, wireline interfaces, wireless power, position location, broadcast and streaming protocols, and short-range communication functionalities, including Near Field Communication (NFC) and Bluetooth. Our patents cover a wide range of technologies across the entire wireless system (including wireless devices and network infrastructure equipment), not just the portion of such patented technologies incorporated into chipsets. Over the years, a number of companies have challenged our patent position, but the mobile communications industry generally recognizes that any company seeking to develop, manufacture and/or sell certain wireless products that use CDMA-based and/or OFDMA-based technologies requires a license or other rights to use our patents.
We have licensed or otherwise provided rights to use our patents to hundreds of companies on industry-accepted terms. Our strategy to make our patented technologies broadly available has been a catalyst for industry growth, helping to enable a wide range of companies offering a broad array of wireless products and features while increasing the capabilities of and/or driving down average and low-end selling prices for handsets and other wireless devices. By licensing or otherwise providing rights to use our patents to a wide range of equipment manufacturers, encouraging innovative applications, supporting equipment manufacturers with integrated chipset and software products and focusing on improving the efficiency of the airlink for wireless operators, we have helped multimode device capabilities evolve, grow demand and reduce device pricing. 5G network deployments and commercial 3G/4G/5G multimode device sales began in 2019 and have continued. By licensing or otherwise providing rights to use our patents to a wide range of equipment manufacturers, we are supporting the global rollout and availability of 5G technology. We believe that 5G will continue to encourage innovative applications through enhanced mobile broadband services with lower latency and multi-gigabit user data speeds and bring more capacity and efficiency to wireless networks.
Upon the initial deployment of OFDMA-based networks, the products implementing such technologies generally have been multimode and implement OFDMA-based and CDMA-based technologies. The licenses granted under our existing license agreements generally cover multimode CDMA/OFDMA (3G/4G/5G) devices, and our licensees are obligated to pay royalties under their license agreements for their sales of such devices.
Standards bodies have been informed that we hold patents that might be essential for all 3G standards that are based on CDMA, patents that are potentially essential for LTE standards, including FDD and TDD versions, and patents and pending patent applications that are potentially essential for 5G technologies. We have committed to such standards bodies that we will offer to license our essential patents for these standards consistent with our commitments to those bodies. We have made similar commitments with respect to certain other technologies implemented in industry standards.
QTL licensing revenues include per-unit royalties and, to a lesser extent, lump sum payments (license fees). Licensees pay quarterly royalties based on their sales of products incorporating or using our licensed intellectual property. Per-unit royalties are generally based upon a percentage of the wholesale (i.e., licensee's) selling price of complete licensed products, net of certain permissible deductions (including transportation, insurance, packing costs and other items), with certain products subject to per unit minimums and/or per unit caps. Certain products may also have a fixed royalty amount per unit. Revenues generated from royalties are subject to quarterly and annual fluctuations.
The vast majority of QTL revenues have been generated through our licensees' sales of OFDMA-based products (including 3G/4G and 3G/4G/5G multimode devices), such as smartphones and other devices. We have invested in both the acquisition and development of, and continue to invest in the development of, OFDMA technology and intellectual property and have generated the industry leading patent portfolio applicable to LTE, LTE Advanced, LTE Advanced Pro and 5G NR. Some of our inventions that serve as foundational technologies for 3G and 4G also serve as foundational technologies for 5G. We have invested and continue to invest in the development of 5G and continue to play a significant role in driving advancements of 5G. Nevertheless, we face competition in the development of intellectual property for future generations of digital wireless communications technologies and services.
Our license agreements also may provide us with rights to use certain of our licensees' technology and intellectual property to manufacture, sell and/or use certain components (e.g., application-specific integrated circuits) and related software, cellular devices and/or infrastructure equipment.
We have been in the past, currently are, and may in the future be subject to certain legal proceedings and/or governmental investigations challenging our patent licensing practices, including those described in this Annual Report under the heading "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 7. Commitments and Contingencies," which may require us to change our patent licensing practices as described herein in "Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors" under the heading "Changes in our patent licensing practices, whether due to governmental investigations, legal challenges or otherwise, could adversely impact our business and results of operations."
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QSI Segment. QSI makes strategic investments primarily through our Qualcomm Ventures arm that are focused on expanding or opening new opportunities for our technologies as well as supporting the design and introduction of new products and services (or enhancing existing products or services). Many of these strategic investments are in early-stage companies in a variety of industries and applications, including, but not limited to, 5G, AI, automotive, consumer, enterprise, cloud, IoT and XR. Investments primarily include non-marketable equity securities and, to a lesser extent, marketable equity securities and convertible debt instruments. In addition, QSI segment results include revenues and related costs associated with certain development contracts with one of our investees. As part of our strategic investment activities, we generally intend to pursue various exit strategies for each of our QSI investments in the foreseeable future.
Other Businesses. Nonreportable segments include our QGOV business and our cloud computing processing initiative. QGOV provides development and other services and sells related products to U.S. government agencies and their contractors.
Seasonality. Information regarding seasonality is provided in this Annual Report in "Part II, Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in the "Our Business and Operating Segments" section under the heading "Seasonality."
Corporate Structure
We operate our businesses through our parent company, QUALCOMM Incorporated, and multiple direct and indirect subsidiaries. We have developed our corporate structure in order to address various legal, regulatory, tax, contractual compliance, operational and other matters. Substantially all of our products and services businesses, including QCT, and substantially all of our engineering and research and development functions, are operated by Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. (QTI), a subsidiary of QUALCOMM Incorporated, and QTI's subsidiaries. QTL is operated by QUALCOMM Incorporated, which owns the vast majority of our patent portfolio. Neither QTI nor any of its subsidiaries has any right, power or authority to grant any licenses or other rights under or to any patents owned by QUALCOMM Incorporated.
Revenue Concentrations and Significant Customers
A small number of customers/licensees historically have accounted for a significant portion of our consolidated revenues. In fiscal 2023, revenues from Apple and Samsung each comprised 10% or more of our consolidated revenues. Additional information regarding revenue concentrations is provided in this Annual Report in "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 2. Composition of Certain Financial Statement Items" and "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 8. Segment Information."
Research and Development
The wireless communications industry is characterized by rapid technological change, evolving industry standards, frequent new product introductions and, with the use of 5G, the expansion into industries and applications beyond mobile handsets such as automotive and IoT, requiring a continuous effort to enhance existing products and technologies and to develop new products and technologies. We have significant engineering resources, including engineers with substantial expertise in modem, radio-frequency integrated circuit, RFFE, multimedia (camera, video, display and computer vision), sensor perception and drive policy, advanced SoC, which includes specialized engines such as CPU and GPU to enable high performance and low-power computing and other optimization techniques, AI, packaging and a broad range of other technologies. We expect to continue to invest in research and development in a variety of ways in an effort to extend the demand for our products and technologies and to utilize that research and development in industries and applications beyond mobile handsets (such as automotive and IoT), including continuing the development of new modem and multimedia technologies and other technologies (such as ADAS/AD and XR), developing alternative technologies for certain specialized applications, participating in the formulation of new voice and data communication standards and technologies and assisting in deploying digital voice and data communications networks around the world.
We continue to invest significant resources towards advancements in OFDMA-based technologies and products (including LTE, 5G and 6G). We also engage in acquisitions and other transactions to meet certain technology needs, to obtain development resources or open or expand opportunities for our technologies and to support the design and introduction of new products and services (or enhance existing products and services) for voice and data communications and industries and applications beyond mobile handsets, such as ADAS/AD. We make investments to provide our integrated circuit customers with chipsets designed on leading-edge technology nodes that combine multiple technologies for use in consumer electronic devices (e.g., smartphones, tablets, laptops, voice and music devices, wearable devices and XR devices) and other products (e.g., access points and routers, data cards and infrastructure equipment). In addition to 3G, 4G and 5G technologies, our chipsets support other wireless and wired connectivity technologies, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, position location and Powerline communication. Our integrated chipsets often include multiple technologies, including advanced multimode modems, application processors and graphics engines, as well as the tools to connect these diverse technologies. We continue to support Android, Windows and other client software environments in our chipsets.
We conduct broad, leading research and development across AI, including generative AI, from fundamental research to platform and applied research, with the goal of advancing its core capabilities (i.e., perception, reasoning and action), and scaling them across industries and use cases. With investments made in AI for over a decade, our research is diverse, and we are focused on power efficiency and personalization to make AI seamless across our everyday experiences.
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We develop innovations that are integrated into our product portfolio to expand the opportunity for wireless communications and enhance the value of our products and services. These innovations are expected to enable our customers to improve the performance or value of their existing services, offer these services more affordably and introduce revenue-generating broadband data services ahead of their competition. We are focused on making it easier for developers to design and deploy their applications on our platforms across multiple device categories and industries as a part of our diversification strategy.
We have research and development centers in various locations throughout the world that support our global development activities and ongoing efforts to develop and/or advance 4G, 5G, 6G, and a broad range of other technologies, including RFFE. We continue to use our substantial engineering resources and expertise to develop new technologies, applications and services and make them available to licensees to help grow the wireless communications industry and generate new or expanded licensing opportunities.
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and Human Capital
We believe that our innovations help transform industries, enhance people's lives and address some of society's biggest challenges. With the world becoming increasingly connected, we have an opportunity to shape a better future. We believe in the power of technology. As such, our corporate responsibility vision is to be a facilitator of innovation for a sustainable world, connected wirelessly.
We have integrated corporate responsibility throughout our business, from our daily operations to our executive leadership and our Board of Directors (Board). The Governance Committee of our Board provides oversight on ESG matters not delegated to other Board committees, including ESG policies, programs and initiatives. The HR and Compensation Committee of our Board provides oversight on our human capital initiatives and our workforce diversity, equity and inclusion policies, programs and initiatives, while the Audit Committee of our Board provides oversight of our ESG disclosure controls and procedures. Our ESG Leadership Committee, composed of certain executives, provides guidance on global corporate responsibility issues. Our ESG Working Group implements directives from the ESG Leadership Committee, measures progress on achieving our goals and reports to management on accomplishments and challenges.
ESG
We center our ESG efforts around purposeful innovation, focusing on three strategic areas where we believe we can have the biggest impact:
•Empowering Digital Transformation. We believe technology can transform industries, businesses, communities and individual lives. We invent solutions that are foundational to the advancement of the global wireless ecosystem, improving how we work, live and, ultimately, thrive.
•Acting Responsibly. We invest in our people, strive to always behave with integrity and implement governance standards that uphold Qualcomm's values. We are committed to responsible business practices, from upholding diversity, equity and inclusion, to protecting privacy, to providing leading development programs and fostering an ethical culture.
•Operating Sustainably. We aim to maintain safe, healthy and productive working conditions and conserve natural resources. Our environmental efforts center on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, optimizing energy consumption, managing water usage and minimizing waste throughout our operations and the communities in which we work.
2025 Goals. Our 2025 Goals related to corporate responsibility include, among others:
•Reducing our absolute Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions by 30% from global operations, from a 2014 base year.
•Reducing power consumption by 10% every year in our flagship Snapdragon Mobile Platform products (given equivalent features).
•Ensuring 100% of our primary semiconductor manufacturing suppliers are audited every 2-years for conformance to our Supplier Code of Conduct, from a 2020 base year.
Net-Zero Global GHG Emissions Commitment. Qualcomm has approved near and long-term science-based emissions reduction targets with the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), including: (1) reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 50% by 2030 from a 2020 base year; (2) reduce absolute Scope 3 GHG emissions by 25% by 2030 from a 2020 base year; and (3) reach net-zero GHG emissions across the value chain by 2040.
The foregoing discussion includes information regarding ESG matters that we believe may be of interest to our stockholders generally. We recognize that certain other stakeholders (such as customers, employees and non-governmental organizations), as well as certain of our stockholders, may be interested in more detailed information on these topics. We encourage you to review our most recent Qualcomm Corporate Responsibility Report (located on our website) for more detailed information regarding our Corporate Responsibility and ESG governance, goals, priorities, accomplishments and initiatives, as well as the Corporate Governance section of our most recent Proxy Statement, and our Corporate Governance Principles and Practices (located on our website), for additional information regarding governance matters, including Board
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and Committee leadership, oversight, roles and responsibilities, and Director independence, tenure, refreshment and diversity. Nothing on our website, including the aforementioned reports and documents, or sections thereof, shall be deemed incorporated by reference into this Annual Report.
Human Capital
In order to continue to produce innovative, breakthrough technologies, it is crucial that we continue to attract and retain top talent. To facilitate talent attraction and retention, we strive to make Qualcomm a diverse, inclusive, and safe workplace, with opportunities for our employees to grow and develop in their careers, supported by strong compensation, benefits, and health and wellness programs and by programs that build connections between our employees and their communities.
At September 24, 2023, we had approximately 50,000 full-time, part-time and temporary workers, the overwhelming majority of which were full-time employees. Our employees are represented by more than 100 (self-identified) nationalities working in over 150 locations in 36 different countries around the world. Collectively, we speak more than 90 different languages. Our global workforce is highly educated, with the substantial majority of our employees working in engineering or technical roles. During fiscal 2023, our voluntary turnover rate was less than 5%. During the second half of fiscal 2023, in order to promote and facilitate the type of collaboration and innovation that is foundational to Qualcomm, we adjusted our onsite work policy to require most of our employees to be in the office the majority of their working time.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. We believe that a diverse workforce is important to our success, and we continue to focus on making Qualcomm a great place to work for women and underrepresented populations. Our recent efforts have been focused in three areas: inspiring innovation through an inclusive and diverse culture; expanding our efforts to recruit world-class diverse talent; and identifying strategic partners to accelerate our inclusion, equity and diversity programs.
We have employee networks that enhance our inclusive and diverse culture, including global network groups focused on supporting women, LGBTQ+ employees and employees with disabilities, in addition to U.S.-based employee networks that focus on Black and African American employees, Hispanic and Latinx employees and U.S. military members and veterans. In 2023, we also added a new employee network to support Asian American and Pacific Islander employees.
We continue to recruit technical talent in diverse communities, engaging as a high-level sponsor of professional conferences, such as the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers National Convention and the National Society of Black Engineers National Convention. We also continue to recruit from a variety of colleges with diverse student populations, including Hispanic-Serving Institutions and Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Our continued engagement with organizations that work with diverse communities has been vital to our efforts. We joined the Global Catalyst Community that helps organizations build workplaces that work for women with thought leadership and actionable solutions to advance women into leadership. We are also endorsed as a great employer for women by Work180 and have been recognized by Avtar and Seramount as a Best Company for Women in India. We, alongside other top technology companies, helped form the Reboot Representation Tech Coalition, which aims to double the number of Black, Latinx and Native American women receiving computing degrees by 2025. Through our collaboration with Disability:IN's Inclusion Works program, we have increased our ability to address the needs of individuals with disabilities.
We publish our most recent Consolidated EEO-1 reports on our website to provide additional transparency into our workforce.
Health, Safety and Wellness. The success of our business is fundamentally connected to the well-being of our people. Accordingly, we are committed to the health, safety and wellness of our employees. Through our Live+Well, Work+Well program, we provide our employees and their families with access to a variety of innovative, flexible and convenient health and wellness programs, including benefits that provide protection and security related to events that may require time away from work or that impact their financial well-being; that support their physical and mental health by providing tools and resources to help them improve or maintain their health status and encourage engagement in healthy behaviors; and that offer choice where possible so they can customize their benefits to meet their needs and the needs of their families.
Compensation and Benefits. We provide robust compensation and benefits programs to help meet the needs of our employees. In addition to salaries, these programs (which vary by country/region) include annual bonuses, stock awards, an employee stock purchase plan, a 401(k) plan, healthcare and insurance benefits, health savings and flexible spending accounts, paid time off, family leave, family care resources, flexible work schedules, adoption and surrogacy assistance, employee assistance programs, tuition assistance, and on-site services such as health centers and fitness centers, among others. In addition to our broad-based equity award programs, we have used targeted equity awards with vesting conditions to facilitate retention of personnel, particularly those with critical engineering skills and experience.
Talent Development. We invest significant resources to develop the talent needed to remain a world-leading innovator in wireless technologies and high performance and low power computing, including AI. We deliver numerous training opportunities, provide rotational assignment opportunities, focus on continuous learning and development and have implemented what we believe are industry-leading methodologies to manage performance, provide feedback and develop talent.
Our talent development programs are designed to provide employees with the resources they need to help achieve their career goals, build management skills and lead their organizations. We provide a series of employee workshops around the globe that support professional growth and development. Additionally, our manager and employee forum programs provide
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an ongoing opportunity for employees to practice and apply learning around conversations aligned with our annual review process. We also have an employee development website that provides quick access to learning resources that are personalized to the individual's development needs.
Building Connections - With Each Other and our Communities. We believe that building connections between our employees, their families and our communities creates a more meaningful, fulfilling and enjoyable workplace. Through our engagement programs, our employees can pursue their interests and hobbies, connect to volunteering and giving opportunities and enjoy unique recreational experiences with family members. Leveraging our partnerships with various local arts and culture organizations, we have created numerous unique experiences for employees and their families around the world.
Since our employees are passionate about many causes, our corporate giving and volunteering programs support and encourage employees by engaging with those causes. In our offices around the world, our employee-led Giving Committees select local organizations to support, often in the form of grants that are primarily funded by the Qualcomm Foundation (which was established in 2011 to support charitable giving and volunteerism). We also frequently collaborate with these organizations on volunteer activities for our employees. Additionally, during fiscal 2023, thousands of our employees around the world utilized our charitable match program, benefiting more than 1,500 charitable organizations.
Human Capital Advancements Linked to our Executive Compensation. The HR and Compensation Committee of our Board will consider human capital advancements in determining our executives' fiscal 2023 bonus. For fiscal 2023, progress towards human capital advancements serves as a non-financial performance modifier that can adjust the executives' bonus payout by a multiple of 0.9 to 1.1.
The foregoing discussion includes information regarding Human Capital matters that we believe may be of interest to stockholders generally. We recognize that certain other stakeholders (such as customers, employees and non-governmental organizations), as well as certain of our stockholders, may be interested in more detailed information on these topics. We encourage you to review the "Workforce" section of our most recent Qualcomm Corporate Responsibility Report (located on our website) for more detailed information regarding our Human Capital programs and initiatives. Nothing on our website, including our Consolidated EEO-1 reports and our Qualcomm Corporate Responsibility Report or sections thereof, shall be deemed incorporated by reference into this Annual Report.
Available Information
Our Internet address is www.qualcomm.com. There we make available, free of charge, our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, proxy statements and any amendments to those reports (among others), as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). We also make available on our website public financial information for which a report is not required to be filed with or furnished to the SEC. Our SEC reports and such other information can be accessed through the investor relations section of our website (https://investor.qualcomm.com/). The information found on our website is not part of this or any other report we file with or furnish to the SEC.
Information about our Executive Officers
Information about our executive officers (and their ages as of November 1, 2023) are as follows:
Cristiano R. Amon, age 53, has served as President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Board of Directors since June 2021. Mr. Amon served as President and Chief Executive Officer-elect from January 2021 to June 2021 and President from January 2018 to January 2021. He served as Executive Vice President, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. (QTI), a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, and President, QCT, from November 2015 to January 2018. He served as Executive Vice President, QTI and Co-President, QCT from October 2012 to November 2015, Senior Vice President and Co-President, QCT from June 2012 to October 2012 and as Senior Vice President, QCT Product Management from October 2007 to June 2012, with responsibility for our product roadmap, including the Snapdragon platforms. Mr. Amon joined Qualcomm in 1995 as an engineer and throughout his tenure at Qualcomm has held several other technical and leadership positions. Mr. Amon has been a member of the board of directors of Adobe Inc. since October 2023. Mr. Amon holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and an honorary doctorate from UNICAMP, the State University of Campinas, Brazil.
Heather Ace, age 53, has served as Chief Human Resources Officer since March 2020. Prior to joining Qualcomm, Ms. Ace was Senior Vice President, Human Resources at DexCom, Inc., a provider of continuous glucose monitoring, from July 2016 to March 2020. Prior to DexCom, she was Executive Vice President, Human Resources at Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc., a developer of treatments for obesity, from January 2016 to July 2016. Ms. Ace was Integration Leader for Royal Philips, leading the cross-functional integration of Philips Healthcare's acquisition of Volcano Corporation, from January 2015 to January 2016. She was Executive Vice President, Human Resources at Volcano Corporation from May 2012 to January 2015. Prior to May 2012, Ms. Ace served in various senior executive roles in human resources, post-acquisition/merger integration and employment law at Life Technologies Corporation. She began her career at Gray, Cary, Ware & Freidenrich (now DLA Piper) as a litigation and transactional employment attorney, specializing in mergers and acquisitions. Ms. Ace holds a B.A. in Law & Society from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a J.D. from Santa Clara School of Law.
James J. Cathey, age 59, has served as Chief Commercial Officer, QTI since April 2022. Mr. Cathey served as Senior Vice President, Global Business Operations, QTI from December 2018 to April 2022, Senior Vice President, QTI and
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President, APAC and India from May 2016 to December 2018, Vice President, QTI and President, APAC and India from December 2015 to May 2016 and Vice President, QTI and President, Qualcomm Japan from December 2014 to December 2015. He served in various other operational and leadership roles since joining Qualcomm in September 2006. Prior to joining Qualcomm, he was an executive at Micron Technology, Inc., MicroDisplay Corp. and PixTech Inc. Mr. Cathey holds a B.B.A. from Boise State University.
Ann Chaplin, age 50, has served as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary since November 2021. Prior to joining Qualcomm, Ms. Chaplin served at General Motors Company as Corporate Secretary and Deputy General Counsel, U.S., Transformation Initiatives and Corporate Securities from February 2021 to November 2021, Deputy General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, North America, Transformation Projects and Compliance from April 2019 to February 2021, Deputy General Counsel, Commercial, Transportation as a Service, Litigation and Regulation from January 2018 to April 2019, Deputy General Counsel, Intellectual Property, Regulation and Litigation from June 2017 to January 2018 and Deputy General Counsel, Litigation from December 2015 to June 2017. Prior to General Motors, Ms. Chaplin was an attorney at Fish & Richardson P.C. from February 2001 to December 2015, last holding the position of Litigation Practice Group Leader/Litigation Equity Principal. She began her career as an intellectual property litigation attorney at the law firm of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi LLP. Ms. Chaplin holds a B.A in Sociology of Law from the University of Minnesota and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Akash Palkhiwala, age 48, has served as Chief Financial Officer since November 2019. Mr. Palkhiwala served as Senior Vice President and Interim Chief Financial Officer from August 2019 to November 2019. He served as Senior Vice President, QCT Finance, QTI from December 2015 to August 2019 and Senior Vice President and Treasurer from October 2014 to December 2015. Mr. Palkhiwala served in various other finance and leadership roles since joining Qualcomm in March 2001. Prior to joining Qualcomm, he was an Analyst at KeyBank. Mr. Palkhiwala holds an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from L.D. College of Engineering in India and an M.B.A from the University of Maryland.
Alexander H. Rogers, age 66, has served as President, QTL and Global Affairs since June 2021. Mr. Rogers served as President, QTL from October 2016 to June 2021, Senior Vice President and President, QTL from September 2016 to October 2016, Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and General Manager, QTL from March 2016 to September 2016, Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel from October 2015 to March 2016 and Senior Vice President and Legal Counsel from April 2007 to October 2015. Prior to QTL, he led Qualcomm's litigation group. Mr. Rogers joined Qualcomm in January 2001 as an attorney. Prior to joining Qualcomm, he was a partner at the law firm of Gray, Cary, Ware & Freidenrich (now DLA Piper), specializing in intellectual property and commercial litigation. Mr. Rogers holds a B.A. and an M.A. in English Literature from Georgetown University and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.
James H. Thompson, age 59, has served as Chief Technology Officer, QTI since March 2017. Dr. Thompson served as Executive Vice President, Engineering, QTI from October 2012 to March 2017 and Senior Vice President, Engineering from July 1998 to October 2012. He joined Qualcomm in 1992 as a senior engineer and throughout his tenure at Qualcomm has held several other technical and leadership positions. Dr. Thompson holds a B.S., an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin.