Jury finds Arm breached Qualcomm's licence but awards Qualcomm only $2

A jury in Delaware has found that Arm breached its architecture licence with Qualcomm, but it awarded Qualcomm just $2 in damages. Whether Qualcomm can stop paying Arm royalties is now up to the judge.

Arm licenses its instruction set to chipmakers such as Qualcomm, which design their own cores. Image: Arm

Qualcomm designs its Snapdragon chips for phones and Windows laptops under that licence, so the next ruling could change what it pays Arm for years.

The jury found two breaches by Arm and awarded $1 for each

The judgment entered on October 13 says Arm breached its Architecture License Agreement by withholding approvals Qualcomm needed, both before and after January 8, 2023. The jury awarded $1 for that.

The jury also found that Arm intentionally and negligently interfered with Qualcomm's business relationship with Meta. That claim earned another $1.

The judge's ruling on royalties is separate from the jury verdict. Image: Arm

Arm won the claims about its technology licence and component pricing

Qualcomm did not win everything. The jury found Arm did not breach its separate Technology License Agreement over three of its CPU cores. It also found that Arm did not act in bad faith over pricing for several other components.

Both companies claimed a win, Reuters reports. Qualcomm said it was "gratified that the jury found Arm breached its long-standing Architectural License Agreement". Arm pointed to the tiny award, which came despite what it called Qualcomm's attempt "to deprive Arm of billions of dollars under our license agreements".

Judge Maryellen Noreika will decide whether Qualcomm can stop paying royalties

The money at stake now sits with Judge Maryellen Noreika. Qualcomm wants to stop paying royalties to Arm for five years, a remedy that could be worth billions. Arm argues that this penalty cannot be enforced.

The two companies have fought in this court before. In December 2024 a jury there sided largely with Qualcomm over the Nuvia licence Arm had sued over.