Comment by woodruffw

My understanding of Bell Labs is that it was funded via a 1% flat "tax" on all Bell System operating companies, and that internally it had no central mission. That's why all kinds of non-telecommunication advancements have come from it: radio astronomy, DNA sequencing machines, solar cells, etc.

I can't find an article for it, but I remember reading somewhere that AT&T's extravagant research budget and forays outside of telecommunications were partially a defensive maneuver: AT&T was aware that the US government could dismantle its monopoly at any moment, and invested heavily in R&D as a token of good faith.