Qualcomm and Arm headed back to trial on Monday in Wilmington, Delaware, to determine damages in their long-running dispute over chip technology licensing, with U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika telling jurors the case could last at least two weeks. At issue is whether Qualcomm breached its license agreement with Arm when it acquired chip startup Nuvia in 2021 and began using Nuvia’s designs in its Snapdragon chips without paying additional royalties.
A jury in December 2024 largely sided with Qualcomm, finding the company had not breached the Nuvia license agreement, though it deadlocked on one of three questions. Qualcomm said in a September 30, 2025 investor release that the court confirmed the jury’s verdict, rejected Arm’s remaining claims and entered final judgment in Qualcomm’s favor. The new proceeding therefore concerns damages rather than the underlying liability question the 2024 jury resolved, though the precise scope of what each side may still claim remained contested at trial’s opening.
The reported sums are large. One published report put Arm’s damages claim at $2.9 billion and Qualcomm’s counterclaim at $1 billion; those figures are single-sourced press reports, not court filings, and should be treated as preliminary. Qualcomm shares fell 2.21 percent to $180.79 on Monday while Arm fell 1.49 percent to $302.90, underperforming a Nasdaq that closed at a record.
The dispute matters beyond the two litigants because Arm’s licensing model sits underneath virtually the entire mobile chip industry and an expanding share of data-center silicon. A damages outcome that implies higher royalty obligations for architectural licensees would ripple through Qualcomm’s Snapdragon roadmap and Arm’s relationships with other licensees, while a decisive Qualcomm win would entrench the Nuvia-based strategy at the heart of its push into AI PCs and automotive.