Qualcomm Sues Arm Over Licensing Breach and Meta Deal
Qualcomm is seeking to stop paying billions in royalties to Arm Holdings in a Delaware federal court trial over alleged contract breaches.
A US federal court in Delaware began a five-day jury trial Monday in a dispute between Qualcomm and Arm Holdings. Qualcomm alleges that Arm breached their contract by withholding essential chip-testing tools and leaking a 2024 threat to terminate their licensing agreement. Qualcomm claims these actions damaged its negotiations for a chip deal with Meta Platforms.
Qualcomm is seeking to cease royalty payments to Arm for up to five years, a move that could potentially save the company billions of dollars. Arm, which is owned by SoftBank Group, denies the breach and characterizes the alleged damage to the Meta negotiations as speculative. Arm further argues that Qualcomm is ineligible for damages because it leaked non-public details regarding antitrust probes into Arm.
In addition to the jury trial, Judge Maryellen Noreika will conduct a bench trial to determine if Arm negotiated in good faith regarding next-generation chip technology. The two companies have a history of legal conflict, including a 2022 lawsuit filed by Arm that ended in a victory for Qualcomm in 2024.
