Qualcomm, a leading US-based international provider of wireless technology and services – with a particular emphasis on chipsets for smartphones – is ready to invest “hundreds of millions of dollars” in Russian tech companies, Senior VP Anastassia Lauterbach told the Russian business daily Kommersant.
According to its strategic plan adopted in late 2011, Qualcomm will pursue four goals in Russia, said Lauterbach: help operators develop their networks; develop an ecosystem of Internet services; make the smartphone more accessible to the population; and invest in technology and science.
The US company started screening the Russian startup scene in January of this year, but has not completed any deals so far. “We’d like to find a laboratory or company here which we could easily invest in, work with and take technology from,” Kommersant quoted Lauterbach as saying. “This seems possible in Russia in the field of software.”
Lauterbach did not specify the amounts to be invested in Russia.
Qualcomm has extensive venture business experience, with 30 portfolio companies. Over the last ten years, the company has invested no less than $6 billion in venture projects, Kommersant noted. A large portion of these investments went to chipset manufacturer Atheros Communications.
