Jury finds Arm breached its Qualcomm licence but awards just $2 in damages

The second courtroom round between Arm and Qualcomm ended in a result both sides can spin. On 13 October, a federal jury in Delaware found that Arm breached its Architectural License Agreement with Qualcomm and interfered with Qualcomm's business relationship with Meta. It then awarded Qualcomm $2 in total: $1 for each of those two claims.

What the jury decided

According to Reuters, the breach finding concerns Arm's obligation to provide software patches and tools for its designs. The jury also accepted Qualcomm's argument that Arm had disrupted a deal with Meta. Qualcomm says it was close to an agreement with Meta in 2024 when, it alleges, Arm leaked to Bloomberg News that Qualcomm had breached a licence, which delayed the deal.

Arm won its own points as well. In its statement, the company says the jury found for Arm on four claims. The verdict came after a five-day trial last week, the second between the two companies in two years.

Both sides say they won

Qualcomm called the outcome "a victory for innovation and competition", saying it "further exposes Arm's broader intentions to harm Qualcomm and its ecosystem". The company added that it remains focused on products including its Oryon CPUs.

Arm pointed to the money instead. It said the award of "only two dollars confirms the merit of Arm's arguments" and that the verdict shows it acted in good faith under its licence. CNBC reported that Arm shares fell about 1% after the decision, while Qualcomm's rose about 1%.

Why it matters beyond the courtroom

The case reflects a wider shift. Arm used to license only the designs and instruction set that chipmakers build on. It now also sells chips of its own, which puts it in competition with customers like Qualcomm, whose Snapdragon processors power many Android phones and Windows laptops.

The fight isn't over. Reuters notes the findings keep Qualcomm's claims alive for the next phase, in which US District Judge Maryellen Noreika must settle several remaining disputes. For now, nothing changes for people buying phones or PCs built on Qualcomm and Arm designs.