Company timeline

? 1985: Qualcomm was founded in California. The company starts working on CDMA, a unique digital wireless technology used by the United States military for secure communications.

? 1991: Qualcomm goes public and issues 4 million shares on the Nasdaq in New York.

? 1995: Hutchison Telephone Co Ltd, based in Hong Kong, launches its first commercial CDMA service.

? 1999: Qualcomm joined the S&P 500 Index and has developed close links with the telecommunications industry in China.

? 2007: The company became the world's leading mobile chipset provider. It supplies integrated circuits (chipsets) to manufacturers of advanced 3G mobile devices.

? 2009: South Korea fines Qualcomm more than $200 million after an anti-monopoly case.

? 2013: Investigations into the company start in China.

? 2015: Qualcomm is fined $975 million for violating China's anti-monopoly law.