Qualcomm Inc. has launched a global antitrust campaign against Arm Holdings Plc as the two longtime business partners jockey for advantage in the computing semiconductor market.

In private meetings and confidential filings to regulators on three continents, Qualcomm is arguing that Arm — its biggest supplier — is guilty of anticompetitive behavior, according to people familiar with the matter. 

Qualcomm’s complaints to the European Commission, US Federal Trade Commission and Korea Fair Trade Commission allege that Arm is hurting competition by restricting access to its technology after operating an open network for more than 20 years, said the people.  

Qualcomm, the No. 1 maker of chips that run phones, contends that Arm created a heavy reliance on its technology through an open licensing model, which also fostered a thriving chip industry. Qualcomm is telling competition authorities around the world that that dynamic market is now threatened as Arm restricts access to boost profits through its own chipmaking ambitions, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing confidential matters. Source: Bloomberg.

Back in January,  Qualcomm's has filed a counter-suit against Arm tha twill go to trial in March or April 2026. This means the chipmaker drama could drag out for at least another year on that front.

Qualcomm now stands as an obstacle to Arm’s ambition to raise prices and eliminate alternatives for customers... Unable to compete fairly with Qualcomm, Arm has employed a series of wrongful tactics in an attempt to stifle Qualcomm’s technological leaps in CPU design, to force Qualcomm to continue to use Arm’s off-the-shelf CPUs, and to coerce Qualcomm into renegotiating the QC ALA, despite it being in effect for years to come, on terms substantially more favorable to Arm—or simply to nullify that agreement. Source: Laptop Magazine via Yahoo!finance.