In early 1991, I first met with Qualcomm.CMDA technology. Irwin Jacob (CEO) and his co-founder, Andy Viterbi , attended the meeting. Paul Jacob, the son of Irwin, who later became CEO in 2005, was there as well. I was introduced to them via General Instruments. Their main business then was Omnitracs system, a satellite-based communication and tracking system designed for the transportation industry. However, they were far along in developing CDMA technology.

At this time, cell phones used analog technology.  Both GSM and CMDA were under development. I think they were introduced commercially around 1995.  I knew nothing about cell phone technology but was pleased to get a comprehensive tutorial. I was fascinated by the technology.  I did not know about the role of the actress Hedy Lamarr* in the development of spread spectrum technology, which was the core technology used by CMDA. Qualcomm had also acquired Eudora, an email client, and Paul was running that part of the business for reasons I no longer understand. 

The potential of CDMA blew me away. I realized it could be used to support packet networks.  I was beginning to understand the potential of the cell phone to become a computer, but frankly, it took me until 1999 to truly embrace that idea. This was a bit before the formation of Intel Capital by Les Vadasz and me.  I was reporting to Les as VP of business development and was primarily focused on acquiring network technologies for Intel. However, when I started to explore acquiring or investing in Qualcomm, it was clear from the reaction of various executives that Intel had no interest in mobile technologies. At that time, the focus was still on the desktop not even notebook computers.

The good news for me was that since we had no interest in Qualcomm, I was cleared to invest in the company directly, and I bought shares in the IPO.  I wish I still had them.  The company was valued at about $210 million at the IPO. Now, it is worth $188 billion. 

Later, perhaps around 2010, I proposed to some of the Intel board members with whom I was still in contact to explore merging with Qualcomm and making Paul Jacobs, its CEO, the CEO of the combined company.  That and all the other advice I offered to the board after I left Intel was ignored.  Now, Qualcomm is exploring acquiring Intel. Frankly, I don’t think it makes a lot of sense. It would be tough to digest.  

By 1992, I realized that Intel was not capable of acquiring anything meaningful when I first proposed acquiring Cisco, and Andy Grove said the company was too expensive when I looked at that in 1990) and then 3COM, which was too crappy.  I said, “I get it.  We can’t afford anything we like and don’t like anything we can afford.”  More importantly, Intel’s immune system would have attacked the foreign body and destroyed it.  That drove me to look at early-stage investment instead of acquisitions. Intel would have destroyed Qualcomm if it had acquired it. Now Qualcomm may acquire Intel.

*Hedy Lamarr played a significant role in developing technology that would eventually contribute to modern wireless communications. Alongside composer George Antheil, she co-invented an early version of frequency hopping spread spectrum technology during World War II. This technology was initially designed to prevent the jamming of radio-controlled torpedoes. Though not implemented in wartime, the principles of their invention have been incorporated into modern technologies, including CDMA and Wi-Fi, demonstrating a foundational contribution to secure wireless communication methods.