US giant Qualcomm beats UK’s Arm in chips case

Qualcomm beats Arm in case that could redefine rules for design licenses in the chip industry

Qualcomm prevailed in trial against Arm Holdings’ claim that it violated a license for chip technology that the world’s largest cellphone processor maker acquired when it bought a start-up in 2021.

Jurors in federal court in Delaware concluded on Friday that Qualcomm did not violate the terms of an agreement covering Arm chip products acquired in a $1.4 billion purchase of Nuvia by incorporating the technology into its chips without pay a higher licensing fee.

Jurors were unable to agree on whether Nuvia violated the license and U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika said that issue could be retried at a later date.

Qualcomm is one of Arm’s biggest customers and a longtime partner, but the companies have grown increasingly at odds as they become rivals in the computer processor industry.

The dispute is important because many of the world’s biggest technology companies rely on the chip architecture licensed from Arm and built into Qualcomm products ranging from computers to cars.

Arm said it intends to seek a new trial. “We are disappointed that the jury was unable to reach a consensus on the allegations,” the company said in a statement.

Jurors initially told the judge on Friday that they were deadlocked on the second day of deliberations. After Noreika told the eight-member panel to continue trying to reach a unanimous decision, the jury returned a verdict on two of the three charges.

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

Arm claimed that its deal with Nuvia should have been renegotiated after Qualcomm bought the start-up and demanded that the San Diego-based company destroy the designs it obtained in the acquisition.

Qualcomm — which is counting on Nuvia’s technology to enter the computer processor market — argued to jurors that it had a separate general license for Arm innovations that covered its work.

With information from SCMP*