Wireless chip supplier Qualcomm (expects to keep its market lead despite a decision by No. 1 mobile handset maker Nokia to order microchips from smaller rivals, Qualcomm's Chief Executive Paul Jacobs said on Thursday.

Analysts have said Nokia's move to buy chips from Broadcom and STMicroelectronics could heap pricing pressure and greater competition on Qualcomm and Texas Instruments in the high-speed wireless chipset market.

From a performance standpoint and from a technology standpoint, we're still in the lead, Jacobs told Reuters in an interview. We're spending huge amounts of money in R&D, so I think we're going to continue to stay in the lead.

On a separate note, Jacobs said the company was no closer to resolving a dispute with Nokia over an expired technology license pact. Qualcomm has asked arbitrators to handle the Nokia case, and Jacobs said the process of choosing such a panel had begun.

I don't think we're any closer, Jacobs said. I still have this point of view that there's some external event that will cause (an agreement).

Qualcomm