On Wednesday, Qualcomm, the US-based semiconductor company, and its acquired chip design firm Nuvia were sued by Arm, a chip technology firm owned by Softbank Group. Arm has accused Qualcomm and Nuvia of violating license agreements and infringing on its trademarks. Nuvia was founded by former Apple chip architects and was acquired by Qualcomm last year for $1.4 billion (roughly Rs. 11,140) excluding working capital and other adjustments. The move was intended to put rivals Intel and Advanced Micro Devices on the defensive (AMD).
In its lawsuit against Qualcomm, Arm is seeking an injunction, according to a blog post on the company’s website. If approved, Qualcomm will be required by contract to destroy designs created under Nuvia’s license agreements with Arm.
The lawsuit was filed in the District of Delaware of the United States District Court. Qualcomm, according to Arm, transferred Nuvia’s licenses without Arm’s approval as “a standard restriction under the company’s license agreements.”
Meanwhile, Qualcomm’s General Counsel, Ann Chaplin, told Reuters that “Arm’s complaint ignores the fact that Qualcomm has broad, well-established license rights covering its custom-designed CPUs, and we are confident those rights will be affirmed.”
To recall, Qualcomm paid $1.4 billion for Nuvia last year. The company wanted to create computing cores that were distinct from the standard Arm designs used by competitors such as MediaTek.
