Microsoft’s efforts to build a futuristic computer based on quantum mechanics are getting a boost from former engineers of the chipmaker Qualcomm.
Over the past few months, Microsoft has aggressively hired chip engineers from a struggling Qualcomm division devoted to building chips for the computers that power data centers, more so than other companies, according to people familiar with the matter. It has brought on the former engineering leadership team for the unit, including Muntaquim Chowdhury, Thomas Speier, Michael McIlvaine, Wayne Smith, along with design managers Ketan Patel and Michael Underkoffler. Microsoft has hired so many of these engineers that the company has taken over a floor in a building previously rented out by Qualcomm in Raleigh, N.C., a city that served as the engineering hub for the chipmaker’s hollowed-out data center group.
