With a legal conflict on the horizon for December, ARM Holdings plc has initiated a confrontation with Qualcomm by terminating their architectural design agreement.
Cancellation of License
According to BNN Bloomberg, ARM has issued Qualcomm a 60-day cancellation notice. Should this cancellation become effective, Qualcomm will be forced to cease the sale of products that utilize ARM technology. This move could significantly impact a profitable revenue stream that includes various devices used in Android smartphones and other portable gadgets. Among these products are the Snapdragon X Elite and 8 Elite, which are based on Nuvia technology.
Background of the Dispute
The conflict traces back to 2022 when ARM took legal action against Qualcomm and its subsidiary Nuvia for creating custom Phoenix cores without obtaining permission from ARM. Prior to Qualcomm's acquisition of Nuvia, there was an agreement that allowed Nuvia to modify ARM's designs to develop these custom cores. However, this agreement was rendered void after the acquisition, leading ARM to revoke all of Nuvia's licenses in March 2022.
Statements from the Companies
ARM contended that Qualcomm "tried to transfer Nuvia's licenses without ARM's permission." In contrast, Qualcomm asserted that ARM lacks the "contractual or any other rights to interfere with Qualcomm's or Nuvia's innovations." Although newer Qualcomm chips do not incorporate ARM cores, they still rely on the ARM instruction set as a bridge between hardware and software components.
In a statement to Sam Mobile, a spokesperson from Qualcomm remarked, "This is just more of the same from ARM – more baseless threats intended to intimidate a long-standing partner, meddle with our leading CPUs, and hike up royalty fees despite the extensive rights under our architecture license."
