Qualcomm Wins Legal Battle Over Arm Chip Licensing

Qualcomm has won a legal battle over its 2021 acquisition of Nuvia, a startup founded by former Apple engineers.

A federal jury in Delaware ruled on Friday that Qualcomm did not breach its agreement with Arm, which had accused the company of misusing chip designs licensed to Nuvia before the acquisition.

The case, which lasted two years, centered around whether Qualcomm violated Arm’s licensing terms. However, the jury could not decide if Nuvia itself had breached its agreement with Arm, meaning the case could be tried again.

US District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika stated that neither side had a clear victory, and the case might not have a definitive outcome if retried.

Qualcomm acquired Nuvia for $1.4 billion to strengthen its chip lineup, including the Snapdragon X chips used in Copilot Plus laptops. During the trial, it was revealed that Qualcomm projected saving up to $1.4 billion annually on Arm royalty payments.

The dispute began in 2022 when Arm argued that Qualcomm’s continued royalty payments were much lower than what Nuvia had been paying.

Arm claimed that the designs licensed to Nuvia were invalid after the acquisition and demanded that Qualcomm destroy the technology built with them.

The jury sided with Qualcomm, citing internal documents that showed Arm could have lost $50 million in revenue due to the acquisition. Nuvia co-founder Gerard Williams testified that the startup used less than 1% of Arm’s technology in its final products.

Qualcomm’s general counsel, Ann Chaplin, celebrated the win, saying the decision confirmed Qualcomm’s right to innovate and that its products are protected under its contract with Arm.