Arm casts $2 Qualcomm verdict as vindication in licensing dispute

Arm says a Delaware jury’s nominal damages award strengthens its position in the Qualcomm licensing row, as the case fuels a broader debate over control of chip architecture.

Arm has framed the Delaware jury’s modest damages award in its dispute with Qualcomm as a substantive win, arguing that the case outcome supports its account of the long-running licensing row. In a phone interview with EE Times, the company’s chief marketing officer, Ami Badani, said the jury’s decision to award Qualcomm only $2 in nominal damages reinforced Arm’s view that it acted properly throughout the commercial relationship.

The jury awarded $1 for a breach of licence and $1 for interference with Qualcomm’s business relationship with Meta, while siding with Arm on other claims. Badani said the result underlined the argument that Arm had acted in good faith and that the evidence did not justify a larger financial penalty. She also pointed to the judge’s reluctance to impose judicial control over future licensing terms as further support for Arm’s position.

According to Bloomberg’s reporting on closing arguments, U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika described Qualcomm’s request for the court to force Arm to negotiate in good faith over terms for its next-generation v10 architecture as “very, very drastic”. The judge also signalled that the court would not act as a regulator of Arm’s business practices or set commercial rates, leaving the remaining antitrust and licensing issues to be resolved through written submissions. Badani said a final ruling could still take several weeks.

Beyond the courtroom, the dispute has sharpened a wider industry debate over processor architecture and licensing control. Badani argued that RISC-V has not gained meaningful commercial ground outside China, which she said has been supported by state funding and policy backing. That view stands in contrast to comments from researchers and other industry figures who see open instruction set architectures as increasingly attractive for AI-era chip design, where engineers want more room to tailor cores, add specialist features and improve power efficiency. Mateo Valero, director of the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre, told EE Times that closed architectures can constrain that work and that open standards such as RISC-V offer the strongest alternative. The broader stakes are heightened by the fact that Qualcomm and Arm continue to work together technically even as the legal conflict over licensing terms remains unresolved.