Henry Samueli, Broadband Communications Pioneer and UCLA Alum, Elected to National Inventors Hall of Fame

Key takeaways

• Henry Samueli, chairman of the board of Broadcom Inc. and the namesake of UCLA’s engineering school, has been selected for induction into the 2026 class of the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
• Samueli, who holds more than 75 U.S. patents, is being recognized for advancing broadband communications that enabled affordable, high-speed digital data transmission to homes.
• While at UCLA, he established a research program in integrated circuits and systems that produced chips for digital broadband communications — the technology that led to the co-founding of Broadcom Corp.

Three-time UCLA alumnus Henry Samueli, chairman of the board of Broadcom Inc. and the namesake of UCLA’s engineering school, has been selected for induction into the 2026 class of the National Inventors Hall of Fame for advancing and commercializing broadband technology.

The nonprofit organization, working in partnership with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, announced its newest class of 15 inductees on Saturday, ahead of its May induction ceremony in Washington, D.C.

Samueli, who holds more than 75 U.S. patents, is recognized for advancing broadband communications that enabled affordable, high-speed digital data transmission to homes and businesses.

Among the many technologies Samueli invented or co-invented is a method and system for processing quadrature amplitude modulated signals — a foundational innovation that helped make high-speed digital communications widely accessible. His work laid critical groundwork for modern broadband infrastructure and consumer connectivity.

After earning his bachelor’s in 1975, master’s in 1976 and doctoral degree in 1980 in electrical engineering from UCLA, Samueli joined TRW Inc. in 1980, where he worked on military broadband communications systems. While at TRW, he also taught part time at UCLA before joining the engineering school faculty full time in 1985. At UCLA, he established a research program in integrated circuits and systems that produced chips for digital broadband communications — the technology that led to the co-founding of Broadcom Corp. with one of his doctoral students in 1991.

For its first major commercial customer, Scientific Atlanta Inc., Broadcom delivered an affordable chipset for the world’s first commercially deployed digital cable television receiver. Broadcom later developed high-speed Ethernet transceivers and system-on-a-chip technologies that transformed digital communications. By 2000, its chips were found in 90% of cable modems and television set-top boxes and in more than 60% of all local-area networks. In 2016, Broadcom was acquired by Avago Technologies Ltd. for $37 billion. Known today as Broadcom Inc. and headquartered in Palo Alto, California, the company is a leading global firm in wired and wireless communications. Samueli has served in multiple executive leadership roles, including chief technology officer and vice president of research and development, before becoming the firm’s board chair in 2018, a position he still holds.

In addition to his many professional achievements, Samueli is known for his philanthropic leadership. In 2000, the UCLA engineering school was named in his honor as the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, following a $30 million gift from Samueli and his wife, Susan, through the Samueli Foundation. The funding supported capital improvements for the school as well as fellowships for graduate students and early career faculty. The engineering school at UC Irvine was also named for Samueli after a $20 million gift from the foundation the same year.

A history of support and philanthropy for UCLA

In 2016, the couple gave UCLA a $10 million gift to support the establishment of endowed faculty chairs in engineering, followed by a $20 million gift the next year to support engineering undergraduate students. The Samuelis made another $10 million gift in 2018 to support the development of the school’s Engineering VI building, and a year later, they gave $100 million to UCLA as part of the Centennial Campaign to support the university’s growth.

Along with several additional gifts, the Samuelis have given more than $189 million to support UCLA and the school of engineering. Samueli has also been a longtime chair of the dean’s executive board at UCLA Samueli, offering guidance to the school’s leadership on issues such as capital projects and school expansion.

He has received numerous international honors for his contributions to communications technology, including the Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award from the Global Semiconductor Alliance and the Marconi Society Prize and Fellowship. In February 2025, Samueli received the IEEE Medal of Honor, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ highest award. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and IEEE. He is also a recipient of the University of California Presidential Medal, the UCLA Medal, the UC Irvine Medal and UCLA’s Edward A. Dickson Alumnus of the Year award.

Samueli will be formally inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame on May 6–7, along with fellow honorees such as Wi-Fi pioneer Teresa Meng and Spanx inventor Sara Blakely. As an NIHF inductee, he will join the ranks of some of the world’s most pivotal inventors, including Louis Pasteur, the inventor of pasteurization; Samuel Morse, who invented the telegraph; and Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of the radio.

Marking two milestones in 2025, Henry Samueli reflects in this video on the 50th anniversary of earning his first UCLA degree and the 25th anniversary of the school’s naming in his honor.