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The Arm and Qualcomm/Nuvia Legal Battle over chip designs could disrupt Qualcomm's Hype and goals for CoPilot+PC Laptops

1xcoverCo-Pilot+PC SurfacePro

Copilot+ PCs are an entirely new class of Windows PCs powered today exclusively by Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus processors. These new devices feature a neural processing unit (NPU) capable of 45 trillion operations per second (TOPS), which unlocks new artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced experiences in Windows 11 and popular applications (apps).

In addition to powering the world’s fastest NPU for laptops, Snapdragon X Series processors also deliver unrivaled central processing unit (CPU) performance and battery efficiency — making it the most powerful, intelligent and efficient platform ever created for Windows in its class.

Yet there's one little detail that's absent from this hype: A two-year legal battle pitting two tech titans threatens to disrupt an emerging wave of new personal computers powered by artificial intelligence, tech industry executives and experts say. Patently Apple covered this development in a report back in August 2022 titled "Apple chip design supplier ARM is Suing Qualcomm and NUVIA for breach of license agreements and trademark infringement."  

Reuters further notes that "A parade of executives from Microsoft, Asus, Acer and others joined Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon on stage last week at the annual Computex trade show in Taipei to pitch a new generation of AI-powered PCs.

But the talk in hallways, at dinner and over drinks at the show was over how a contract dispute between Arm Holdings and Qualcomm, which work together to make the chips powering these new laptops, could abruptly halt the shipment of new PCs that are expected to make Microsoft and its partners billions of dollars.

Rough projections suggest Microsoft expects to take roughly 5% of the market with the Arm-based laptops by the end of the year, selling about 1 million to 2 million units.

Nearly two dozen models ranging from Microsoft, Dell and Samsung are expected to ship to consumers June 18.

An Arm victory in the litigation could force Qualcomm and its roughly 20 partners, including Microsoft, to halt shipments of the new laptops.

"It's definitely a real risk," said Doug O'Laughlin, the founder of chip financial analysis firm Fabricated Knowledge. "The more successful (the laptops are), the more fees Arm can get eventually."

"Arm's claim against Qualcomm and Nuvia is about protecting the Arm ecosystem and partners who rely on our IP and innovative designs, and therefore enforcing Qualcomm's contractual obligation to destroy and stop using the Nuvia designs that were derived from Arm technology," an Arm spokesperson said.

Due to the fact that the initial batch of Windows designs for Microsoft's new Copilot+ laptop program are based on Qualcomm's processors, the litigation is an undercurrent that exists but often goes unmentioned in public. For more, read the full Reuters report. 

Beyond Qualcomm, new chips for Copilot PC's will debut this fall from both Intel and AMD. The AI PC segment will have alternatives should arm win their case and force Qualcomm laptops with the disputed chip to stop shipping. 

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