Qualcomm President Cristiano Amon Replaces Steve Mollenkopf as CEO

Current Qualcomm president Cristiano Amon will replace Steve Mollenkopf as CEO of the company effective June 30. Qualcomm’s board of directors voted in favor today. Mollenkopf has been CEO of the company since March 2014.

According to Qualcomm, Mollenkopf chose to stop at the company as CEO. He will remain involved with the company as a strategic advisor. The board of directors thanks Mollenkopf for his work as CEO and says he has played an important role in making smartphones mainstream.

At the same time, the board points to the ‘troubled times’ that Qualcomm has had in the years under Mollenkopf. For example, Apple and Qualcomm were engaged in a legal dispute several years ago, in which Qualcomm was sued for overcharging for licenses and Apple was sued for breach of contract. In April 2019, both companies settled, with Apple paying an amount to Qualcomm.

Amon has been president of Qualcomm since January 2018, where he is responsible for the company’s semiconductor division. This includes smartphones, automotive and iot. The new CEO says he is looking forward to his role in bringing 5G to more smartphones “and beyond”. He also wants to focus on further digitizing industries.

Steve Mollenkopf left, right Cristiano Amon