Qualcomm seeks up to five years without Arm royalties as trial opens

Qualcomm’s contract trial against Arm opened in Delaware on October 5, 2026, with Qualcomm seeking permission to suspend royalty payments for up to five years. The company also alleges that Arm’s conduct harmed negotiations for a potential chip deal with Meta. The initial report on the Delaware case covered the trial’s opening.

The five-day proceeding has two related tracks: a jury trial addressing Qualcomm’s contract allegations and a separate bench proceeding before Judge Maryellen Noreika about whether Arm negotiated in good faith over its next architecture version.

Qualcomm’s allegations and the Meta negotiations

Qualcomm alleges that Arm withheld chip-testing tools required under contract and leaked a 2024 notice threatening to terminate a key license. Qualcomm says the alleged leak hurt negotiations for a potential deal with Meta.

Qualcomm attorney Karen Dunn told the jury that the deal’s value had fallen by $170 million by the time Qualcomm secured it. That figure is Qualcomm’s account of the deal’s change in value, and the claimed connection to Arm’s conduct is disputed.

Arm disputes the claimed harm

Arm attorney Gregg LoCascio argued that Meta’s shift from virtual-reality headsets toward AI glasses explained the changed deal economics. LoCascio also said Qualcomm had not shown actual harm, disputing Qualcomm’s account of the negotiations.

The royalty figures discussed in court

During Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon’s testimony in the bench proceeding, a chart discussed in court showed a proposed 1,800% increase in royalty payments between architecture versions 9 and 10. The figure concerned that proposed change in royalty payments.

A separate exchange concerned a 2013 licensing agreement described as capping royalties at $1.88 per chip for chips with at least five CPU cores. LoCascio questioned whether Qualcomm sought to preserve that cap. He contrasted the five-core threshold with some data-center chips described as having 288 CPU cores, characterizing the difference as 283 cores covered without additional royalty. Amon rejected that characterization.

The remedy Qualcomm is seeking

Qualcomm is asking to suspend royalty payments to Arm for up to five years, a remedy potentially worth billions of dollars. Noreika was considering whether Qualcomm could pursue that contractual remedy.

Qualcomm’s agreement with Arm runs through 2033.