Qualcomm 2014 Annual Report Download - page 15

A small number of customers/licensees historically have accounted for a significant portion of our consolidated revenues. In fiscal 2014 ,
2013 and 2012 , revenues from Samsung Electronics and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd./Foxconn, its affiliates and other suppliers to
Apple Inc. constituted more than 10% of consolidated revenues.
Research and Development
The communications industry is characterized by rapid technological change, 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 CDMA, OFDMA and a broad range of other technologies. Using these engineering resources, 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 services, including continuing the
development of CDMA, OFDMA and other technologies, 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. Our research and development team has a demonstrated track record of innovation in voice and data
communication technologies and application processor technology, among others. Our research and development expenditures in fiscal 2014 ,
2013 and 2012 totaled approximately $5.5 billion , $5.0 billion and $3.9 billion , respectively.
We develop, commercialize and actively support 3G CDMA-based technologies, including CDMA2000 1X, 1xEV-DO, EV-DO Revision
A, EV-DO Revision B, 1X Advanced, WCDMA, HSDPA, HSUPA and HSPA+, TD-SCDMA, as well as OFDMA-based LTE technologies,
products and network operations, to grow our royalty and integrated circuit and related software revenues. We also make acquisitions to meet
certain technology needs, to obtain development resources or to pursue new business opportunities.
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 devices (e.g., smartphones, tablets, laptops), consumer electronics and other products (e.g., access
points and routers, data cards and infrastructure equipment). In addition to 3G and 4G LTE technologies, our chipsets support other wireless and
wired connectivity technologies, including WLAN, Bluetooth, Ethernet, GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou 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 mobile client software
environments in our chipsets.
We develop on our own, and with our partners, innovations that are integrated into our product portfolio to further 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 have research and development centers in various locations throughout the world that support our global development activities and
ongoing efforts to advance CDMA, OFDMA and a broad range of other technologies. 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 communications
industry and generate new or expanded licensing opportunities.
We make investments across a broad spectrum of opportunities that leverage our existing technical and business expertise to deploy new
business models and enter into new industry segments, such as new display technologies and technologies to address: the growth of mobile data
traffic, including products and software designed for the implementation of small cells, which can be used by carriers to extend the capacity of
licensed and unlicensed wireless spectrum; the challenge of meeting the increased demand for data; the connected home and the Internet of
Everything; data centers; automotive; very high speed connectivity; mobile health; wireless charging; and machine learning, including robotics.
Sales and Marketing
Sales and marketing activities of our operating segments are discussed under Operating Segments. Other marketing activities include public
relations, advertising, web-marketing, participation in technical conferences and trade shows, development of business cases and white papers,
competitive analyses, industry intelligence and other marketing programs, such as marketing development funds with our customers. Our
Corporate Marketing department provides company information on our Internet site and through other media regarding our products, strategies
and technology to industry analysts and for publications.
10