Qualcomm Wins Arm Contract Verdict, but Jury Awards Just $2

A federal jury in Wilmington, Delaware, found Arm breached its architecture license agreement with Qualcomm and intentionally interfered with Qualcomm’s business relationship with Meta, but awarded only $2, sharply limiting the verdict’s financial impact.

The five-day trial produced a split result: the jury assigned $1 to the contract breach and $1 to the interference finding. It rejected four of the six claims Qualcomm presented, leaving Arm with victories on most claims.

Qualcomm accused Arm of withholding validation materials and software fixes needed to test custom CPUs. It also alleged Arm’s conduct disrupted negotiations with customers, including Meta. Arm denied wrongdoing and argued Qualcomm had not established significant economic losses.

The dispute turns on an architecture license agreement that allows Qualcomm to develop and sell custom processors compatible with Arm’s instruction set. The ruling gives Qualcomm findings on two claims, while the nominal damages award leaves its financial recovery at $2.