A federal jury is deliberating in the high-stakes trial between Qualcomm and Arm, a case that could reshape royalty payments across the chip industry.
Qualcomm is seeking to suspend royalty payments to Arm for five years, arguing that its acquisition of chip startup Nuvia freed it from certain licensing obligations. Arm counters that Qualcomm remains bound by its agreements and owes substantial royalties.
The sums at stake are enormous. According to reports, Arm has said Qualcomm accounted for about 9 percent of its fiscal 2026 revenue, roughly 443 million dollars, and a loss could cost far more over time. Jurors deliberated for about four hours on Friday without reaching a verdict.
The case is a rematch of an earlier trial that ended without a clear resolution, and it has drawn intense attention because Arm’s chip designs power nearly every smartphone on the planet.
A verdict, expected as deliberations resume, could set the terms on which the two companies do business for years — and ripple through the royalties that underpin the mobile industry.
At the heart of the dispute is Qualcomm’s 2021 purchase of Nuvia, a startup founded by former Apple chip engineers. Qualcomm argues the acquisition changed the licensing picture; Arm says the original agreements still apply and that Qualcomm owes royalties on chips built with Nuvia-derived designs.
Industry watchers say the outcome could affect not just the two companies but the broader Arm ecosystem, which includes virtually every major maker of mobile processors — and, increasingly, chips for personal computers and data centers.
The retrial follows an earlier proceeding that ended without a decisive resolution, raising the stakes for both sides. Whatever the jury decides, appeals are widely expected, meaning the legal fight could stretch on well beyond this week’s verdict.
Beyond the courtroom, the case is being watched as a test of how intellectual-property deals struck in one era hold up as the industry consolidates. Consolidation has made licensing disputes more common — and more consequential — across the semiconductor world.
