Qualcomm Triumphs Against Arm in Court: Snapdragon X Series Chips Cleared of Infringement Claims

Earlier, we reported that chip designer Arm's lawsuit against Qualcomm had entered the court trial stage. Yesterday, after a jury spent two days deliberating, they ultimately ruled that Qualcomm's acquisition of Nuvia did not violate its license with Arm.

The jury also ruled that Qualcomm had obtained proper licensing for the use of Nuvia technology in its chips (mainly the Qualcomm Snapdragon X series chips), thus not violating any Arm licensing terms and rejecting Arm's lawsuit.

Qualcomm stated in a press release: "We are pleased with today's verdict, which validates Qualcomm's rights to innovate and confirms that all Qualcomm products involved in this case are protected by Qualcomm's contract with Arm. We will continue to leverage the excellent Oryon Arm-compatible custom CPU to develop leading products for the benefit of consumers worldwide."

It is currently unclear whether Arm will continue to litigate. However, this case is very important to Arm, and a loss could lead other customers to bypass patent licensing fees by acquiring innovative companies based on Arm technology, just as Qualcomm has done.

Arm's primary income is from patent licensing fees. Although the court ruled that Qualcomm's actions were not problematic, it could lead to a significant loss of patent licensing revenue for Arm. Therefore, it is likely that Arm will not give up on litigation.

However, Qualcomm's current victory also benefits stakeholders related to Copilot+PC, as most of these devices use Qualcomm's Snapdragon X chips. Previously, Arm even contacted OEM manufacturers claiming that these chips infringed on its patents in an attempt to pressure Qualcomm.

Now that Qualcomm has won the lawsuit, laptops equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon X chips can continue to be sold without any lingering concerns, unless Arm continues to litigate and wins.