In an evident attempt to ensure that the licensing side of the company's business is shielded from lawsuits against it, San Diego-based Qualcomm Inc. has recently announced its plans to create a separate division for its chip business.

The new unit to be created by Qualcomm will be a wholly owned subsidiary called Qualcomm Technologies Inc. (QTI), which will essentially be an upshot of the company's strategic move pertaining to the restructuring of its Research & Development (R&D) division.

The new Qualcomm subsidiary - which has been created in the wake of increasing litigation involving mobile technologies - will chiefly shoulder the responsibility for product development as well as its in-operation semiconductor business, though the new unit's existing patent portfolio, as well as technology licensing division, will be retained by the parent company.

Talking about the new structure, Qualcomm has clarified that the move to create the QTI unit had neither been undertaken as part of the company's plans to spin off its technology or its chip businesses, nor was it a response to any third party claims or actions.

Noting that the QTI subsidiary has essentially been created to shelter Qualcomm's patents, the company's Chairman and CEO Paul Jacobs said that the "internal reorganization will provide even greater protection for our industry-leading intellectual property portfolio as our products and services businesses seek to accelerate innovation and deliver our products to market quickly."