Dr. James Thompson will retire as Chief Technology Officer after 33 years at Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM). The company made the announcement Thursday along with its appointment of Dr. Baaziz Achour as CTO. Achour is now Qualcomm’s Deputy Chief Technology Officer. Both changes are effective as of February 3, 2025.
“As CTO, Baaziz will lead Qualcomm’s R&D and engineering organizations, with responsibility for our technology strategy and execution. Baaziz will continue to extend Qualcomm’s leadership in wireless communications, computing and AI,” said Qualcomm Incorporated President/CEO Cristiano Amon.
Amon continued: “I want to thank Jim for his 33 years of considerable contributions to Qualcomm. During his time as CTO, Jim not only advanced Qualcomm’s wireless technology leadership but also expanded our capabilities, including in advanced processors and AI. Jim has played a key role in creating one of the industry’s broadest technology portfolios, which has been instrumental to our leadership in mobile, and growth and diversification into Automotive, PC, Industrial, XR, networking and more.”
Achour has been Deputy Chief Technology Officer since 2023. He first joined Qualcomm as a Systems Engineer in 1993. Over the course of his tenure with Qualcomm, Achour has held several leadership roles within the engineering organization and has been essential in contributing to nearly every generation of wireless technology, according to the company. Qualcomm says he was a key part of the leadership team that enabled the accelerated launch of 5G and will lead the evolution of cellular to 6G.
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