Arm Cancels Qualcomm’s Chip Design License Amid Growing Dispute

The conflict between Qualcomm and Arm took a significant turn as Arm reportedly revoked Qualcomm’s license to use its instruction set for chip design. Bloomberg reported that Arm has issued Qualcomm a 60-day notice to resolve the issue; otherwise, Qualcomm risks having to stop selling certain products or face considerable legal consequences.

The licensing dispute dates back to Qualcomm’s 2021 acquisition of Nuvia, a chip design firm whose Oryon CPUs were set to power upcoming Qualcomm SoCs. Arm argues that Nuvia’s designs, initially developed under an Arm license, cannot legally transfer to Qualcomm without explicit permission. Qualcomm counters that its agreement should cover all Nuvia activities, including ongoing chip design.

If Arm follows through with this termination, Qualcomm will be barred from using Arm’s instruction set for custom designs but may still use Arm’s standard blueprints — a shift that could force delays and additional expenses as work already done may go to waste. This change could impact the Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon 8 Elite chips, while older models like Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 remain unaffected.

This fallout raises potential for Qualcomm to shift toward the open-source RISC-V instruction set. In 2023, Qualcomm joined Google to develop a RISC-V-based Wear OS chip, signaling a possible future pivot. Arm’s current stance is firm, asserting that its actions protect the Arm ecosystem, and the case is set for trial in December.