Qualcomm on Friday won a trial in a dispute with Arm Holdings over allegations it violated terms of its architecture license agreement (ALA) and technology license agreement (TLA) by taking over Nuvia and using its IP in its Snapdragon X processors for client PCs. However, while Qualcomm was found innocent, the jury could not agree on whether Nuvia violated its licensing terms with Arm. Thus, the outcome leaves the door open for a retrial or further negotiations, reports Bloomberg.
The disagreement stemmed from Qualcomm's use of the Armv8-based Oryon cores originally designed by Nuvia for server-class processors, which Arm claimed required renegotiation after the acquisition. After Qualcomm decided to proceed with developing its Snapdragon X processors packing Oryon cores, Arm demanded that Qualcomm destroy the designs because they violated the terms of Nuvia's licenses related to Arm technologies. Qualcomm countered by arguing that its existing ALA for Arm instruction set architecture (ISA) covered products designed by entities it owns—in this case, Nuvia.
Gerard Williams III, one of the lead developers behind Oryon and multiple Apple processors, said that the final design developed by Nuvia contained less than 1% of Arm technology.
