Arm has taken its dispute with Qualcomm to the next level, two years after filing a lawsuit against its close partner. In accordance with BloombergThe British semiconductor company has canceled an architectural license that allows Qualcomm to use its intellectual property and chip design standards. As the news organization notes, Qualcomm, like many other chip makers, uses Arm’s computer code that the chips need to run software, such as operating systems. Arm has reportedly sent Qualcomm a 60-day notice of withdrawal – if they don’t reach an agreement by then, it could have a major impact on both companies’ finances and Qualcomm’s operations.
The SoftBank-backed chipmaker sued Qualcomm in 2022 after it bought a company called Nuvia, one of its licenses. Arm argued that the US company had not obtained the necessary approvals to transfer the licenses to Nuvia. As such, Nuvia breached their contract and terminated their licenses, Arm said in its lawsuit. Qualcomm has been using Nuvia’s advanced technology in chips designed for AI PCs, such as those from Microsoft and HP. But Arm wants the company to stop using Nuvia’s advanced technology and destroy any Arm-based technology developed before the acquisition.
Qualcomm will have to stop selling most of its $39 billion worth of chips, Bloomberg he says, if the companies do not resolve this issue in the next 60 days. It seems that the US chip maker believes that this is a ploy by Arm to threaten its business and get higher profits, because its spokesperson told. Bloomberg as well as Financial Times: “This is very much like Arm – additional baseless threats designed to harass a long-term partner, disrupt our performance-leading CPUs, and increase royalty rates without broad rights under our architectural license.” Qualcomm also accused Arm of trying to interfere with the legal process, calling its reasons for terminating the license “absolutely baseless” and saying it was confident that “its rights under its agreement with Arm will be upheld.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Arm told us: “After the violation of Qualcomm’s license agreement with Arm, Arm is left without taking any legal action that requires Qualcomm to correct its violation or face the termination of the agreement. This is necessary to protect the unmatched ecosystem. Arm and the most important partners that have built it over 30 years Arm is fully prepared for the trial in December and remains confident that the Court will find in Arm’s favor.
Update, October 23, 2024, 11:33PM ET: This story has been updated to add Arm’s statement.
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