At almost $500,000 in profits per employee, InterDigital Inc. is one of the world’s most successful smartphone companies nobody has ever heard of. And it’s based right here.

The firm — with a Wilmington headquarters and Conshohocken research office — licenses its 19,000-patent portfolio to Apple, Samsung and Huawei, and is now knocking on the doors of other tech companies in Asia and America that it believes use InterDigital stuff without paying for it, writes Bob Fernandez in the Philadelphia Daily News.

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InterDigital has positioned itself to be a major patent holder for 5G wireless technology. Industry experts say that 5G could offer high-speed broadband internet services to compete with Comcast Corp. and other cable companies. Shay sees driver-less cars, robotics and home automation as future sources of growth for its patents. Wireless “has become part of the fabric of everyday life,” he said.

Founded in the early 1970s by Sherwin I. Seligsohn, who was fascinated with digital communications, InterDigital has put about $1 billion into researching wireless technology since 2000. Seligsohn — something of a tech visionary — also founded Universal Display Corp., which develops specialized flexible flat-panel displays for smart phones and other popular electronics. The company is based in Ewing, N.J.

InterDigital’s revenues rose to $532.9 million in 2017 from $325.4 million in 2013. Profits boomed to $174.3 million from $38.1 million over the same period. InterDigital has reached a deal to acquire an additional 21,000 patents and patent applications, mostly video-related, from French company Technicolor.

To read the complete story, click here.

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