Qualcomm Picks Insider as New Chief Executive

SAN FRANCISCO — Qualcomm, the wireless technology company that is one of the largest chip makers in the world, said on Friday that its chief operating officer, Steven M. Mollenkopf, would become its new chief executive.

The company said its board chose Mr. Mollenkopf, 44, as chief executive in a unanimous vote. In March, he will succeed Paul E. Jacobs, who will become executive chairman.

Mr. Mollenkopf, an electrical engineer with deep experience in semiconductors, has worked his way up the ranks at the company for the last 20 years. In recent years, he oversaw the $3.1 billion purchase of the chip maker Atheros Communications, the company’s largest acquisition ever, before becoming chief operating officer in 2011.

As a member of Qualcomm’s executive committee, Mr. Mollenkopf helped to guide Qualcomm’s global strategy. The company says his technical and business leadershiphave been critical to its success.

“With today’s announcement, we enable a smooth transition to a proven executive in Steve Mollenkopf,” Sherry Lansing, presiding director of Qualcomm’s board, said in a statement.

Qualcomm, a company based in San Diego with a market capitalization of about $123 billion, receives most of its revenue and profit from technology for cellphones to communicate with wireless networks. The cellphone and network technology, including CDMA chips and cellular networks, are used by Sprint andVerizon Wireless. Qualcomm also makes mobile processors that run the software of many smartphones, including those made by Samsung Electronics, Sony, Nokia and BlackBerry.

“I look forward to working with our executive team and our employees in driving growth for our company and the entire mobile ecosystem as it transitions to 4G and beyond,” Mr. Mollenkopf said in a statement.

Qualcomm is trying to expand more aggressively in the lucrative mobile industry. Last month, the chip maker joined the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, along with BlackBerry’s co-founders, Mike Lazaridis and Doug Fregin, to prepare a bid for BlackBerry, the struggling smartphone maker, according to people briefed on the process.

While Qualcomm is enormously successful, it has run into some problems in China, its biggest market. The company said in November that it faced an antitrust investigation by the Chinese government for reasons that have been kept confidential. In the financial year that ended in September, Qualcomm earned $12.3 billion in revenue from China, or 49 percent of the company’s total revenue; a portion of the revenue attributed to China came from phones assembled in the country and sold in foreign markets.

Many analysts speculate that the antitrust investigation could be related to China Mobile, the largest wireless network in China with more than 750 million subscribers, which is preparing to introduce its faster fourth-generation network later this month. China Mobile’s new 4G network will most likely rely on technology used by Qualcomm. Analysts say they believe that is why the Chinese government started the antitrust inquiry, as a way to gain leverage ahead of royalty negotiations with Qualcomm.

China Mobile is also widely expected to reach a deal with Apple to carry its iPhone. While Apple designs its own processors, the iPhones rely on Qualcomm’s networking chips to connect to newer 4G networks.