Arm took its fight with Qualcomm to the next level two years later to go to court against his former intimate partner. according to BloombergThe British semiconductor company has revoked an architectural license that allowed Qualcomm to use its intellectual property and standards for chip design. As the news organization points out, Qualcomm, like many other chipmakers, uses Arm computer code, which is needed for chips to run software such as operating systems. Arm has reportedly given Qualcomm a 60-day termination notice — if they don’t come to an agreement by then, it could have a major impact on both companies’ finances and Qualcomm’s operations.
Chipmaker backed by SoftBank Sued Qualcomm in 2022 after the last one received a company called Nuvia, one of the other licensees. Arm argued that the US company had not obtained the necessary permits to transfer its Nuvia licenses. As such, Nuvia breached the contract and revoked its licenses, Arm explained in its lawsuit. Qualcomm uses technology developed by Nuvia in chips made for AI computers by the likes of Microsoft and HP. But Arm wants the company to stop using technology developed by Nuvia and to destroy any Arm-based technology developed before the purchase.
Qualcomm will have to stop selling most of its chips, which generate $39 billion in revenue. Bloomberg says that if the companies don’t fix the problem within the next 60 days. Apparently, the US chip maker believes this is a tactic by Arm to threaten its business and get higher royalties, a spokesperson said. Bloomberg and Financial Times: “It’s more of the same from Arm – more baseless threats designed to force a long-term partner, interfere with our performance-leading CPUs, and increase royalty rates regardless of broad rights under our architectural license.” Qualcomm also accused Arm of trying to circumvent the legal process, calling its grounds for revoking the license “totally baseless” and saying it was confident “its rights under its contract with Arm will be upheld.”
Meanwhile, an Arm spokesperson told us: “After Qualcomm repeatedly materially breached Arm’s license agreement, Arm has no choice but to take formal action requiring Qualcomm to remedy Qualcomm’s breach or face termination of the agreement. This is unprecedented. necessary to protect the contract. The ecosystem that Arm and its high-value partners have built over more than 30 years is fully prepared for the trial in December, and the Court is confident that it will find in Arm’s favor.”
Update, October 23, 2024, 11:33 PM ET: This story has been updated to add Armun’s statement.
