If you were hoping for a quick resolution to the legal fight between Qualcomm and CPU architecture firm Arm, you may be out of luck.
While a mistrial temporarily put the dispute on pause in December, the fight got even more complicated thanks to a counterclaim from Qualcomm alleging that Arm has launched a campaign to stifle competition and impede technology innovation.
This countersuit also means we might not see a resolution until next year thanks to a slated February 2026 start date for the new trial.
Here's what you can expect in the year ahead.
What's the counter-claim about?
Based on the most recent court filings, Qualcomm's counter-suit against Arm will go to trial in March or April 2026. This means the chipmaker drama could drag out for at least another year.
Court documents also include a redacted version of Qualcomm's complaint, a copy of which was provided to Laptop Mag.
While we've already heard some of Qualcomm's arguments thanks to reports of the initial trial in Delaware, this counter-claim brief gives us more detail into Qualcomm's claims that Arm sees its licensees as competition and is seeking to drive businesses into using Arm's pre-packaged CPU cores.
"Qualcomm now stands as an obstacle to Arm’s ambition to raise prices and eliminate alternatives for customers... Unable to compete fairly with Qualcomm, Arm has employed a series of wrongful tactics in an attempt to stifle Qualcomm’s technological leaps in CPU design, to force Qualcomm to continue to use Arm’s off-the-shelf CPUs, and to coerce Qualcomm into renegotiating the QC ALA, despite it being in effect for years to come, on terms substantially more favorable to Arm—or simply to nullify that agreement."
Outcome of the previous trial
The initial lawsuit may have ended in a mistrial, but that jury did uphold Qualcomm's right to manufacture Snapdragon X chips based on Qualcomm's existing agreement with Arm to manufacture custom cores based on the Armv9 instruction set.
The question of whether Nuvia, a company now owned by Qualcomm, violated its agreement with Arm led to a hung jury. However, that jury did find that Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Oryon CPU cores are officially licensed under the existing agreement between the two firms. A representative for Qualcomm confirmed to Laptop Mag that the agreement extends until 2033.
While Arm has stated a desire to pursue an appeal in this initial case. A representative for Arm told Laptop Mag after the verdict was handed down, "We intend to seek a retrial due to the jury’s deadlock. From the outset, our top priority has been to protect Arm’s IP and the unparalleled ecosystem we have built with our valued partners over more than 30 years."
What's next for Qualcomm and Arm?
The Qualcomm complaint submitted to the court system was rejected by the trial judge, as was the proposal submitted by Arm. Both companies will need to refile amended versions of those documents.
Arm's appeal of the initial trial could drag things on even further.
It's worth noting that presiding Judge Maryellen Noreika told both parties at the end of the first trial to seek mediation as she did not think "either side had a clear victory or would have had a clear victory if this case is tried again."
So far both companies seem content to keep pursuing this argument in court, which means it could drag out for years unless strong new evidence is presented on either side.
For now, it seems Qualcomm's ability to keep making Oryon CPU cores for the Snapdragon X series of chips is protected, as would any subsequent chips. So we could see the Snapdragon X Elite 2 hit sometime this year.
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