Qualcomm defeats Arm’s claim over chip design license breach

Qualcomm prevailed at trial against Arm Holdings’ claim that it breached a license for chip technology that the world’s largest maker of mobile-phone processors acquired when it bought a start-up in 2021.

Jurors in federal court in Delaware concluded Friday that Qualcomm did not violate the terms of an agreement covering Arm’s chip products acquired in a US$1.4 billion purchase of Nuvia by incorporating the technology in its chips without paying a higher licensing rate. Jurors were not able to agree on whether Nuvia breached the license and US District Judge Maryellen Noreika said that issue could be retried at a later date.

Qualcomm is one of Arm’s biggest customers and a long-time partner, but the companies have grown increasingly at odds as they have become rivals in the computer-processor industry. The dispute is important because many of the world’s largest tech companies rely on chip architecture licensed from Arm and incorporated into Qualcomm’s products, ranging from computers to cars.

Arm said it intends to seek a retrial. “We are disappointed that the jury was unable to reach consensus across the claims,” the company said in a statement.

Jurors at first told the judge Friday they were at an impasse in their second day of deliberations. After Noreika told the eight-member panel to keep trying to reach a unanimous decision, the jury delivered a verdict on two of the three counts.

“The jury has vindicated Qualcomm’s right to innovate and affirmed that all the Qualcomm products at issue in the case are protected by Qualcomm’s contract with Arm,” Qualcomm said in a statement.

Arm claimed its Nuvia agreement should have been renegotiated after Qualcomm bought the start-up and demanded the San Diego-based company destroy designs it got in the buyout. Qualcomm – which is relying on Nuvia’s technology to push into the computer-processor market – argued to jurors it had a separate general license for Arm innovations that covered its work.