SAN FRANCISCO — Derek Aberle, president of Qualcomm Inc. and longtime leader of its technology licensing business, will resign at the end of 2017 after 17 years with the fabless chip firm, Qualcomm said.
As part of the transition plan, Alex Rogers, who has served as president of Qualcomm's technology licensing division, QTL, since 2016, will report directly to Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf.
Qualcomm did not provide information on the reasons for Aberle's resignation. His departure comes at a time when Qualcomm is facing legal challenges in the form of litigation with key customer Apple Inc. as well as challenges from regulators in South Korea — which fined Qualcomm more than $900 million last year — and the U.S., where the Federal Trade Commission has charged that the company's sales and licensing practices hamper competitors and threaten innovation.
Derek Aberle
Aberle, a lawyer, joined Qualcomm in 2000 after serving as its outside counsel and rose to become head of the company's technology licensing arm by 2008. He has been credited with playing a key role in resolving Qualcomm's many trade disputes, including with China in 2015, and the growth of sales and profits under Qualcomm's 4G licensing program.
In a press statement, Mollenkopf thanked Aberle and wished him well in the future. "Under his talented leadership, the QTL division has significantly grown in both revenues and profits, established its 4G licensing program and enabled significant competition across the industry," Mollenkopf said.
"Over the past 30 years Qualcomm has invented the core technologies that have enabled the mobile revolution and made all modern smartphones possible, I am very proud to have been a part of that tradition of innovation, and of all that we've been able to accomplish during my tenure," Aberle said.
—Dylan McGrath is the editor-in-chief of EE Times.
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