Thought Leader Profile

Paul Jacobs

Chairman & CEO, XCOM; Former Chair and CEO, Qualcomm

Paul E. Jacobs, PhD, founded XCOM in 2018 to keep inventing and to invest with the world's most creative engineers and businesspeople.

As former CEO and executive chairman of Qualcomm, Paul spearheaded its efforts to develop and commercialize fundamental mobile technology breakthroughs that fueled the wireless internet and smartphone revolutions. During his tenure as CEO, Qualcomm's revenues quadrupled and its market capitalization doubled. Paul is a prolific inventor with over 80 US patents granted or pending in the field of wireless technology and devices.

Paul served as a director of Qualcomm from June 2005 to March 2018, including as chairman of the board of directors from March 2009 to March 2018 and as executive chairman from March 2014 to March 2018. He served as CEO from July 2005 to March 2014, and as group president of Qualcomm Wireless & Internet from July 2001 to July 2005. In addition, he served as an executive vice president of Qualcomm from February 2000 to June 2005.

Paul is a director of Dropbox Inc., FIRST, and Heal, a private technology-enabled medical care company. He is an owner and vice chairman of the Sacramento Kings, who compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned a BS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, an MS in Electrical Engineering, and a PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He founded Berkeley's Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation and was the university's 2017 Alumnus of the Year. Paul is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Speaker at FiRe 2006, 2010, 2012, 2012, 2019


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