Qualcomm declares full victory against ARM in licensing agreements legal battle
Qualcomm claims “complete victory” over ARM in Nuvia legal battle
Qualcomm has claimed victory in its long battle against ARM after a judge threw out ARM’s last remaining claim in its lawsuit. This lawsuit was over ARM’s licensing agreements with Nuvia, a company that Qualcomm acquired in 2021.
ARM argued that Qualcomm breached its licensing rules using Nuvia. Qualcomm acquired Nuvia to access its team of engineers and deliver improved Snapdragon series processors. This has resulted in the release of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite series CPUs, including their new Snapdragon X2 Elite processors. ARM argues that using Nuvia’s designs under Qualcomm’s license following this takeover weakens its overall business. Qualcomm believes that it should be able to use the IP and designs it paid for under its existing ARM license.
ARM has stated that it will appeal this new court judgement. Regardless, Qualcomm sees this ruling as a “complete victory”.
A U.S. District Court judge today granted Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) a complete victory in litigation brought by Arm Ltd., rejecting Arm’s attempts to stifle innovation and confirming that neither Qualcomm nor its subsidiary Nuvia breached Nuvia’s license agreements with Arm.
The decision in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware dismissed the lone remaining claim in Arm’s lawsuit filed against Qualcomm and Nuvia, in which Arm alleged breach of the architecture license agreement (ALA) between Nuvia and Arm. The Court ruled today in favor of Nuvia. The ruling follows Qualcomm’s victory over Arm during the December 2024 trial in which a jury decided unanimously that Qualcomm did not breach the Nuvia ALA and that Qualcomm’s innovative CPU cores incorporating technology obtained in the Nuvia acquisition were properly licensed under Qualcomm’s own ALA. The Court’s ruling today upholds those jury verdicts and rejects Arm’s attempts to overturn them. The Court also rejected Arm’s request for a new trial.
“With the Court’s decision today, Qualcomm and its subsidiary Nuvia have achieved a full victory. This decision follows Qualcomm’s December 2024 jury trial win and is a full and final judgment in Qualcomm’s favor. Our right to innovate prevailed in this case and we hope Arm will return to fair and competitive practices in dealing with the Arm ecosystem.” Ann Chaplin, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, Qualcomm Incorporated said.
The result reinforces Qualcomm’s ability to drive innovation across the semiconductor industry and address the world’s most important technological challenges.
Qualcomm’s separate lawsuit against Arm for breach of contract, improper interference with customer relationships, and for Arm’s pattern of conduct seeking to hinder innovation and better position Arm’s own products over its long-standing partners’ is ongoing. We look forward to an expected trial in March 2026.
– Qualcomm
This battle between Qualcomm and ARM appears to be over, but the war will continue. Qualcomm’s taking ARM to court over breach of contract and interference with customers. This trail is expected to start in March 2026.
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