Mobile chip giant Qualcomm has announced a corporate restructure as part of an effort to protect its patent portfolio and improve its ability to deliver products quickly to market.

The new structure means that most of its patents are protected from actions of other parts of the company, other than the Qualcomm Technology Licensing Division (QTL), which holds the majority of patents. The company stressed that the changes aren’t in anticipation or in response to any actions from third parties.

The reorganisation sees parent company Qualcomm Incorporated oversee QTL and corporate functions, while a new wholly-owned subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies, will be charged with the company’s research and development, product and services and semiconductor business.

Making Qualcomm Incorporated and Qualcomm Technologies separate should mean the activities of the latter will not result in the patents held by Qualcomm Incorporated, including 3G and 4G technology, being licenced by the new division.

Qualcomm Technologies will only own patents it develops to provide open source software contributions, and will not have the right to grant licences to patents held by the parent company.

“Our 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,” said Qualcomm CEO Paul E. Jacobs.

The new organisation is planned to come into effect during the first fiscal quarter of 2013.