SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Wireless technology and chip developer Qualcomm Inc <QCOM.O> closed its headquarters, where the bulk of its 11,200 employees work, on Tuesday because of raging California fires, a spokeswoman said.

"It's quite chaotic, and we're all in the midst of it," spokeswoman Emily Kilpatrick said from her home. "Everyone is displaced."

She said the San Diego-based company, which developed the CDMA wireless technology widely used in the United States, also closed for several days in 2003 because of forest fires.

More than 300,000 people have been evacuated from a region of southern California stretching from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border amid at least 17 large fires. (Reporting by Adam Tanner)

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