Key Takeaways
- According to reports, Arm revokes Qualcomm’s license to design chips, intensifying their legal battle.
- The conflict started when Arm sued Qualcomm for not renegotiating terms following its acquisition of Nuvia.
- Qualcomm’s $39 billion in revenue could be threatened by a December Arm victory that stops device shipments.
Qualcomm and Arm are reportedly escalating their legal battle over vital smartphone technology by rescinding Qualcomm’s license to use its intellectual property for chip creation.
A document seen by Bloomberg claims that Arm has given Qualcomm notice to terminate its design license agreement, enabling Qualcomm to design chips using Arm’s standards. According to reports, Qualcomm has sixty days to settle the matter as required by law after receiving this termination notice.
Legal Conflict Between Qualcomm and Arm
Once close partners, Arm and Qualcomm may become even more antagonistic as a result of the license revocation. After Qualcomm acquired Nuvia in 2021, UK-based Arm, which is mainly owned by Japan’s SoftBank Group, filed a lawsuit against Qualcomm in 2022, sparking the start of the dispute. Qualcomm contends that its current deal covers Nuvia’s operations, while Arm claims that Qualcomm neglected to update the terms of the arrangement.
Qualcomm’s personal computer processors, which power AI-focused laptops for customers like HP and Microsoft, depend heavily on Nuvia’s microprocessor design. Nuvia’s Oryon design will be incorporated into Qualcomm’s Snapdragon smartphone CPUs, the company just announced.
Arm wants the deletion of Nuvia designs created prior to the acquisition, claiming that Qualcomm’s actions violate its license and that their transfer requires authorization. In February 2023, Nuvia’s licenses were revoked after fruitless discussions.
“Given that a trial is imminent in December, Arm’s frantic move appears to be an attempt to thwart the legal system, and its petition for termination is completely baseless. We have faith that Qualcomm’s deal with Arm will uphold its rights. “We will not tolerate Arm’s anticompetitive behavior,” a Qualcomm representative told Reuters via email.
Potential Repercussions of the Arm-Qualcomm Conflict
The operations and financial health of both semiconductor behemoths could be greatly impacted by this battle. The Arm instruction set, which is crucial for mobile electronics, is used by Qualcomm. Qualcomm will not be able to design processors based on the license if Arm cancels it. Qualcomm could still license Arm’s designs, but doing so would probably cause delays and inefficiencies, which might force the business to stop selling important products and jeopardize its $39 billion yearly revenue. A victory for Arm might also force Qualcomm and its 20 partners, including Microsoft, to halt fresh laptop sales.
The open-source RISC-V instruction set may become more widely used more quickly as a result of the uncertainties surrounding Arm. To guarantee top performance on all RISC-V CPUs, Qualcomm and Google revealed plans for a RISC-V Wear OS chip in October 2023.
The court case is scheduled to start in Delaware’s federal court in December. Even though Arm and Qualcomm are embroiled in a public fight, several experts and investors predict a settlement before the trial.
