Arm Reportedly Cancels License Qualcomm Used to Design Its Chips

Arm has reportedly canceled a license granted to Qualcomm to design chips based on its chip technology, according to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday.

Arm has reportedly given Qualcomm a 60-day notice of the cancellation as required by law. This license lets the San Diego-based Qualcomm design its own silicon based on Arm chip standards. 

The Bloomberg report comes just as Qualcomm announced its new mobile and automotive chips at its annual Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii. The chips represent milestones for Qualcomm that debut new generative AI capabilities for phones, including the Xiaomi 15 and Asus ROG 9 Phone, while automakers Mercedes-Benz and Li Auto have committed to using the AI-supporting automotive chips in upcoming vehicles. 

Qualcomm didn’t confirm that these chips are designed based on Arm standards by time of publication, but the company pushed back on Arm’s cancellation in a statement.

“This is more of the same from ARM — more unfounded threats designed to strong-arm a longtime partner, interfere with our performance-leading CPUs and increase royalty rates regardless of the broad rights under our architecture license. With a trial fast approaching in December, Arm’s desperate ploy appears to be an attempt to disrupt the legal process, and its claim for termination is completely baseless,” Qualcomm’s statement read. “We are confident that Qualcomm’s rights under its agreement with Arm will be affirmed. Arm’s anticompetitive conduct will not be tolerated.”