Qualcomm's MAC footprint spans several IEEE registrant names that should be aliased to one family: "Atheros Communications, Inc." (~2 MA-L blocks), "Atheros Communications" (1 block), and "Qualcomm Inc." (~4 MA-L blocks). A verified Atheros sample is 00:03:7F (registered at Great America Parkway, Santa Clara, CA). These OUIs appear on Wi-Fi chipsets (the Atheros line, found in countless routers, APs, and adapters), mobile SoCs (Snapdragon), Bluetooth, and networking silicon. The corporate history explains the split: Qualcomm completed its ~$3.1 billion acquisition of Atheros Communications on 24 May 2011, after which the Atheros team operated as Qualcomm Atheros, Inc. (a wholly-owned subsidiary). Qualcomm's Wi-Fi heritage therefore lives under the legacy "Atheros Communications" registrant names, while "Qualcomm Inc." holds separate blocks. For triage, an Atheros OUI almost always marks a Wi-Fi radio/chipset (a router, AP, adapter, or embedded Wi-Fi) inside another brand's product — useful for identifying the wireless chipset family rather than the device brand.
- IEEE assignment
- multiple entities — "Atheros Communications, Inc." (~2 MA-L), "Atheros Communications" (1), "Qualcomm Inc." (~4 MA-L) [Confirmed] — IEEE MA-L
- Registry / block size
- MA-L [Confirmed] — maclookup.app (IEEE-sourced)
- HQ / country
- Atheros block 00:03:7F at 5480 Great America Parkway, Santa Clara CA 95054; Qualcomm Atheros corporate address 1700 Technology Drive, San Jose CA 95110; Qualcomm HQ San Diego, CA [Confirmed for Atheros; Likely for Qualcomm] — IEEE MA-L, dnb.com
- Company status
- active; Qualcomm completed its ~$3.1B acquisition of Atheros 2011-05-24; Atheros operates as Qualcomm Atheros, Inc. (wholly-owned subsidiary) [Confirmed] — prnewswire (qualcomm)
- Device types
- Wi-Fi chipsets (Atheros — routers/APs/devices), mobile SoCs (Snapdragon), Bluetooth, networking silicon [Confirmed] — maclookup.app
- Notable products
- Atheros Wi-Fi chipsets; Snapdragon mobile SoCs
- Verified prefix sample
- 00:03:7F (Atheros Communications, Inc.) [Confirmed] — maclookup.app
- Special note
- Qualcomm's Wi-Fi heritage lives under the legacy "Atheros Communications" registrant names; "Qualcomm Inc." holds separate blocks. A Qualcomm/Atheros OUI flags a device built on their silicon regardless of brand. The IEEE registry publishes no assignment dates, so none is stated here. [Confirmed]
- Related vendors
- Atheros Communications (acquired 2011); Qualcomm Atheros (post-merger subsidiary)
- Analyst note
- An Atheros OUI almost always marks a Wi-Fi radio/chipset (routers, APs, adapters, embedded Wi-Fi) inside another brand's product. Useful for identifying the wireless chipset family; not a brand identifier.