A Legal Battle Between Arm Holdings And Qualcomm For Chip Design

An illustration from March 6, 2023, shows a smartphone featuring the Arm Ltd logo positioned on a computer motherboard. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

According to a Bloomberg News report on Tuesday, Arm Holdings is terminating an architectural license agreement that permits Qualcomm to utilize its intellectual property for chip design, amidst a continuing legal dispute between the two firms.

Arm has issued Qualcomm a required 60-day notice regarding the cancellation of the licensing agreement, which allows Qualcomm to develop its own chips based on Arm's proprietary standards.

Arm, based in the UK and primarily owned by Japan's SoftBank Group, filed a lawsuit against Qualcomm in 2022 for not negotiating a new license after its acquisition of Nuvia.

Arm has previously stated that the current design intended for Microsoft’s Copilot+ laptops is a direct technical descendant of Nuvia's chip and has cancelled the license related to these chips.

“A Qualcomm spokesperson remarked, ‘This is more of the same from ARM—baseless threats aimed at pressuring a long-time partner, interfering with our performance-leading CPUs, and raising royalty rates despite the extensive rights granted under our architecture license.’

The spokesperson continued, ‘With a trial approaching in December, Arm’s desperate maneuver seems intended to disrupt the legal process, and its claim of termination is entirely unfounded. We are confident that Qualcomm's rights under its agreement with Arm will be upheld. Arm's anticompetitive behavior will not be tolerated.’

The legal conflict between these two technology giants is set to commence in federal court in Delaware this December.

Should Arm prevail in the litigation, it could compel Qualcomm and its approximately 20 partners, including Microsoft, to stop shipping the new laptops. It would also effectively reverse one of Qualcomm’s most significant strategic acquisitions in recent years.

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