Arm Ltd has informed Qualcomm, its licensed company, that its architectural license will be terminated within 60 days. This agreement allows Qualcomm to manufacture cores for the Oryon CPU at the heart of the Snapdragon X Elite chip and Copilot+ computers.
According to an independent report by PCWorld citing Bloomberg, Arm has canceled the architectural license agreement that allowed Qualcomm to manufacture custom cores like the company’s Oryon processor. Qualcomm described the cancellation notice as “further baseless threats” and looks forward to resolving the issue in a trial scheduled for December.
In the fall of 2022, Arm filed a lawsuit against Qualcomm seeking a court order to force Qualcomm to destroy chip designs developed by a company called Nuvia. Qualcomm acquired Nuvia in 2021 in an attempt to enhance Arm-based CPU designs. Arm, on the other hand, claims it should have been allowed to approve the deal and cancel Nuvia’s licenses in 2023, according to Bloomberg. Since then, the lawsuit has simmered without any real action or communication from either side, even as both parties have set a court date for December.
Now, the stakes have risen significantly. Arm designs its own CPU cores, known as Cortex, and licenses them to companies like Qualcomm and Mediatek. This license is still valid, but Qualcomm entertained partners, analysts, and media at the Maui Snapdragon summit, where the company launched the next generation of Oryon cores, claiming they are faster than Intel’s Lunar Lake chip. Awkward? Very much.
Arm refused to comment. However, Qualcomm released a statement calling the action a “desperate trick”.
Qualcomm stated in a company statement: “This is more akin to Arm – baseless threats designed to undermine an old partner, interfere with our leading-performance CPU cores, and increase IP rates regardless of our extensive rights under our architectural engineering license. Emailed to PCWorld by a company representative. “As the trial approaches quickly in December, it appears that Arm’s desperate trick is an attempt to disrupt the legal process, and its demand to terminate the trial is completely baseless. We are confident that Qualcomm’s rights will be confirmed under its agreement with Arm. Arm’s anti-competitive behavior will not be tolerated.”
Currently, Arm and Qualcomm still have an agreement allowing Qualcomm to manufacture chips based on final Cortex cores from Arm. However, these cores have proven unable to keep up with x86 designs from Intel and AMD.
The Oryon cores in the Snapdragon X Elite processor have shown themselves to be more competitive, arguably the most power-efficient chip for personal computers. Now, these cores are at risk due to Arm’s actions, leading to either heated negotiation or a more intense court battle within a few months.
