Qualcomm sets out open source unit

They’re all at it. US chip shop Qualcomm has caught the open source bug as well, on Monday announcing a separate wholly-owned subsidiary focused on mobile open source platforms.

The Qualcomm Innovation Center (QuIC) is formed of a dedicated group of engineers, headed up by Rob Chandhok, senior vice president of software strategy for Qualcomm CDMA Technologies.

QuIC’s mandate is to use open software to spur the development of advanced services for traditional handsets as well as sophisticated smartphones and mobile computing devices. “Open source and community-driven software development is becoming increasingly important to the wireless industry,” said Chandhok. “These engineers will focus on such important open source initiatives as Linux and Webkit, and on open source operating systems such as Symbian, Android and Chrome.”

Chandhok will address the Symbian open source community in London on October 28 at the Symbian Exchange and Exposition (SEE) taking place at Earls Court.