SAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc. announced that Dr. Andrew Viterbi, co-founder and vice chairman of the company, will retire next month.
Dr. Viterbi, who will remain as a member of Qualcomm’s board of directors, intends to broaden his scope of interests, devoting more time as an adviser to government, academia and the investment community.
“My decision to retire is mixed with some sadness, but I feel comfortable in leaving at a time when [Code Division Multiple Access] is increasingly viewed as the technology of choice for wireless communications,” commented Dr. Viterbi. “It has been an exciting and satisfying industrial career, enhanced by the opportunity to work with such dedicated, talented engineering and management teams that will continue to drive innovation in shaping the future of the wireless industry.”
Widely recognized for his contributions to Qualcomm’s core technologies of satellite and terrestrial digital wireless communications, Dr. Viterbi has been involved in developing CDMA technology for wireless communications and promoting it throughout the world.
His earlier inventions are used in the vast majority of digital wireless phones, data terminals and digital satellite broadcast receivers, as well as in such diverse applications as magnetic recording, speech recognition and DNA sequence analysis.
“With Dr. Viterbi’s active participation, Qualcomm received international recognition for innovative technology in the areas of digital wireless communications systems and products based on CDMA,” said Dr. Irwin Mark Jacobs, chairman and chief executive officer of Qualcomm. “After having founded two companies with him, I have the highest personal regard and deep admiration for him as a colleague and friend.”
A member of both the national academies of sciences and engineering, Dr. Viterbi currently serves on President Clinton’s Information Technology Advisory Committee and the Board of Trustees of the University of Southern California.
Dr. Viterbi has received numerous awards for his leadership and contributions to the telecom industry and to communications theory and practices. He was recently chosen to be inducted into the RCR Wireless Hall of Fame.
