Qualcomm has escalated its dispute with chip designer Arm Holdings to intercontinental heights, filing complaints with three key regulators about alleged anticompetitive behaviour following a failed licensing lawsuit, according to reports.
The semiconductor company complained to US, EU and South Korean authorities about Arm's failed, but potentially not final, attempt to end its architecture license agreement (ALA) with Qualcomm last year, labelling the move as an attempt to hurt competition.
As first reported by Bloomberg, Qualcomm apparently claimed in meetings that Arm used an open licensing model to grow the chip industry’s use of its technology before seeking to restrict access to boost profits and withhold key technologies from licensees.
Qualcomm has not commented on the story, though The Stack has asked for a statement.
A statement provided by Arm appeared to confirm the reports and came out swinging.
A spokesperson said: “Any allegation of anti-competitive conduct is nothing more than a desperate attempt by Qualcomm to detract from the merits and expand the parties’ ongoing commercial dispute for its own competitive benefit.”
The spokesperson added, "Arm is confident that it will ultimately prevail in this dispute."
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Despite a long term partnership, relations first started to openly deteriorate in 2022 when the British company filed a lawsuit claiming its US counterpart had breached licensing agreements due to its use of technology acquired when it bought out Nuvia.
In particular, Arm had qualms about Qualcomm’s continued use of Nuvia developed Arm-compatible CPU cores under a license signed before the $1.3bn acquisition in 2021.
As a result, lawsuits were filed and Arm attempted to end Qualcomm’s own ALA before a jury mostly favoured the US company’s arguments in December 2024, just after the anticompetition complaint was filed with the EU according to Bloomberg.
While Qualcomm had indicated in its earnings earlier this year that Arm would drop the whole thing, the latter company has instead made plans to seek a retrial on the issue and may have a new desire to sort it all out, saying it was “confident that it will ultimately prevail in this dispute”.
As to the why of it all, the two companies have become increasingly competitive with each other in recent years as Arm moved to providing complete chip designs under CEO Rene Haas and is now reportedly looking to manufacture its own chips for the first time this year.
As a result, its US counterpart is likely to be increasingly nervy about potential competition from a fully in-house designed and fabricated chip, possibly explaining its attempts for regulatory intervention from on high.
