---
title: Jury Rules Arm Breached Qualcomm's License but Awards Only $2 in Damages
description: A Delaware jury found Arm breached its license with Qualcomm and awarded $2. The royalty fight that could be worth billions now goes to the judge.
author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
date: 2026-10-14T07:11:29.198Z
updated: 2026-10-14T07:11:29.205Z
canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/qualcomm-vs-arm-lawsuit-verdict
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/qualcomm-headquarters-san-diego-435466.webp
categories: Legal
content_type: News
region: Global
publication: Sovereign Magazine
schema_type: Article
---

A federal jury in Delaware found on October 13 that Arm breached its Architecture License Agreement with Qualcomm and interfered with Qualcomm's business relationship with Meta, and it awarded Qualcomm $1 on each finding.

The unanimous verdict came in a lawsuit Qualcomm brought against Arm, at the end of the second trial between the two companies in two years. Arm sued first, in 2022, over Qualcomm's use of technology from its acquisition of the chip designer Nuvia. A December 2024 jury cleared Qualcomm of breaching Arm's licenses, and Judge Maryellen Noreika entered final judgment for Qualcomm and Nuvia in September 2025, which Arm has appealed to the Third Circuit.

Qualcomm said in a statement that it was "gratified that the jury found Arm breached its long-standing Architectural License Agreement (ALA) with Qualcomm, failed to honor its commitments, and intentionally acted to disrupt Qualcomm's businesses." Arm said in a [statement on its newsroom](https://newsroom.arm.com/news/arm-qualcomm-legal-dispute) that the jury found for it on four claims and that "its award of only two dollars confirms the merit of Arm's arguments in the case."

Arm shares were down 1% after the verdict, Reuters reported, while Qualcomm shares rose 1%, having been up around 2.4% beforehand.

## Qualcomm Won on the License Breach and the Meta Deal, and Arm Won the Rest

Noreika [entered judgment on the verdict](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ded.85553/gov.uscourts.ded.85553.1028.0.pdf) the same day. The jury found that Arm breached the Architecture License Agreement by withholding what Reuters described as software patches and tools for its designs.

Qualcomm's case was that it was close to a chip deal with Meta in 2024 and that Arm held it up by telling Bloomberg News that Qualcomm was in breach of a license, Reuters reported. Thurrott reported that Qualcomm valued the sale at $170 million. The jury found that Arm interfered with the economic relationship between Meta and Qualcomm Technologies both intentionally and negligently.

The jury rejected Qualcomm's other claims: that Arm breached three sections of a separate Technology License Agreement covering specific Arm processor core designs, and that Arm broke its implied duty of good faith by not giving Qualcomm a reasonable offer for some Arm chip components.

## Judge Noreika Still Has to Rule on Qualcomm's Royalty Payments

Noreika has also been hearing a bench trial, decided by the judge without a jury, alongside the jury trial since October 5. Closing arguments are set for October 20, with 90 minutes split equally between the two sides.

One issue before the judge is a clause in the licensing agreement that Qualcomm says lets it stop paying royalties to Arm for five years after a breach. Reuters reported that the jury's breach finding keeps that outcome possible and that it could be worth billions of dollars. Arm has argued the clause is unenforceable.

Noreika must also decide whether Arm refused to negotiate in good faith over the next version of its technology, beyond the current license that Notebookcheck reported runs until 2033. Reuters reported that Qualcomm can use the interference finding to support that argument, and that whichever side loses those rulings is likely to appeal.

## FAQ

**Q: What happened in Arm's original 2022 lawsuit against Qualcomm?**
Arm argued that Nuvia's license did not carry over when Qualcomm acquired the company, and it challenged Qualcomm's use of Oryon cores, which Nuvia originally developed for server chips, in its Snapdragon X processors. A December 2024 jury could not agree on whether Nuvia had violated its original Arm licenses, and in September 2025 Judge Noreika dismissed Arm's remaining claim and denied its request for a new trial.

**Q: Is Arm still suing Qualcomm?**
Yes. Arm appealed the September 2025 judgment to the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on October 1, 2025, and the district court docket shows no ruling back from the appeals court. This week's verdict came in Qualcomm's own, separate lawsuit against Arm.

**Q: Why did Qualcomm and Arm fall out?**
Reuters reported that the relationship deteriorated after SoftBank Group acquired control of Arm in 2016 and Arm shifted from licensing chip technology to selling chips of its own.