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Qualcomm looks for sympathy as rivals protest its power

by Andrew Orlowski | posted on 27 January 2007

In the last financial year, Qualcomm has benefited from higher demand. The semiconductor chipset and licensing business saw earnings grow five per cent year on year, to $648m, with revenue up 16 per cent to top $2bn.

The company said that its legal battles, including a long-running epic against Nokia, would cut into profits. Nokia's license is due to expire on April 9, and if there's no new deal, Nokia will stop paying royalties.

Qualcomm president Steve Altman said the companies challenging the W-CDMA (UMTS) royalty split - including Nokia, Ericsson and TI - represented "an orchestrated attack" on the company.

Altman said the six have been referring to themselves as "Project Stockholm".

"Yeah, it's a super-secret society, and the only reason to gather is to stick pins in a Paul Jacobs doll."