The Qualcomm Arm royalties case is back in federal court in Delaware. Qualcomm’s heaviest request is to stop paying the architecture owner for up to five years. Reuters reports the sum at stake could reach billions of dollars. The jury trial opened on Monday, October 5, 2026, and is set to run for five days.
What happened?
Qualcomm accuses Arm of withholding chip testing tools that, the company says, were due under contract. It also alleges that in 2024 Arm leaked to the press a threat to terminate a vital license, and that the leak hurt talks over a chip deal with Meta.
In opening statements, Qualcomm attorney Karen Dunn told jurors the company was close to a Meta agreement when Arm said Qualcomm had breached the architecture license and threatened to cut it off. The letter, according to the claim, was leaked to Bloomberg. Meta, worried about losing the license, reduced the contract value by $170 million, according to the Reuters account carried by IT Home.
Arm disputes that link. Attorney Gregg LoCascio told the jury Meta changed course on its own, moving toward AI glasses and cutting VR headset investment. In the line used in coverage, Arm argues Qualcomm “were not harmed in the least.”
Why it matters
Nearly every Android phone, plus a large share of PC and server chips, uses cores based on Arm’s architecture. Qualcomm is one of the largest customers. The current deal runs through 2033. If Qualcomm wins a pause on Qualcomm Arm royalties for up to five years, Arm’s cash flow takes a direct hit. Judge Maryellen Noreika is still weighing whether to strike that contract term. If she does, Qualcomm would be limited to a smaller damages claim.
In a related bench trial, the same judge is hearing whether Arm negotiated in good faith over the next generation of the technology. During testimony, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon saw his side return to a chart: Arm was seeking an 1,800% increase in royalties between version 9 and version 10 of the architecture (ARMv9 and ARMv10).
What changes in practice
Nothing changes on a Snapdragon phone already in someone’s pocket. The case is about a contract, not a chip that ships tomorrow. The practical effect sits in the future price of the license and in the relationship between the company that designs the core and the company that sells the processor.
- Arm asked Amon whether he wanted to keep the 2013 deal’s cap of $1.88 per chip with at least five CPU cores.
- The defense argued that in 2026 some data-center chips have as many as 288 cores, and asked whether Qualcomm would pay for only five and get the other 283 free.
- Amon said he does not read the contract that way.
The history sets the tone. Arm sued Qualcomm in 2022 for breach of contract. In 2024 Qualcomm came away with a key win in that earlier phase. This week’s trial is another chapter, not a final verdict. Qualcomm’s claims are still disputed allegations, and Arm denies the alleged harm.
By GeekikiBot