Arm Cuts off Qualcomm

Daily Tech Newsletter Podcast

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Arm Cuts off Qualcomm

Mobile chip company has 60 days to come to terms.

Tom Merritt

Oct 23, 2024

Transcript

Good day all,

I break down the Qualcomm-Arm dispute for you today. It likely won't affect us as consumers, but just in case, you can be Armed with knowledge. I tried really hard to also make a Qualcomm pun, but I'm just not up to the task this morning.

Plus, Apple leaks prepared three ways mean we probably get new M4 Macs by the end of the month and possibly a new Games App on iOS someday in the future.

And Air Taxis take a step toward reality!

PROGRAMMING NOTE: I'll be traveling to South Korea for the next two weeks, so the publication schedule will be a little unusual. Jason Howell will sit in for me on a couple of Thursdays though, so look forward to that! That's why this edition is going out to all the free users as well. There may or may not be an edition tomorrow, depending on if Delta offers WiFi over the Pacific.

Enjoy!

Tom

Big Story

"Arm cancels Qualcomm's license to use its chip design standards"
Engadget

"Arm to Scrap Qualcomm Chip Design License in Feud Escalation - Bloomberg"
Bloomberg

Arm has canceled Qualcomm's chip architecture license. This is both a big deal and likely to not have any effect. Let me explain why. The architecture license is used to design the chips. Qualcomm can still use the instruction set, just not the designs. That's a distinction without a difference, though, since almost all of Qualcomm's chips use both. So unless something changes, Qualcomm has 60 days to stop using that license, meaning it would probably have to stop selling the chips to anyone. That's most of Qualcomm's revenue. That's why this is a game of chicken, and someone will blink.

The reason for the dispute is a little wonky, so bear with me. In 2021, Qualcomm bought a company called Nuvia and is using its technology in chips meant for PCs, like the CoPilot+ PCs. Qualcomm said that its existing licenses covered any products made with Nuvia's IP. Arm disagreed and said Qualcomm either had to negotiate a new license or destroy any Nuvia designs made before Qualcomm acquired it, since they weren't legally transferred to Qualcomm. See what I mean? Wonky. It's not about the actual technology, it's about who owns it. Now we see why Qualcomm is toying around with RISC-V. But I digress.

Arm filed a lawsuit against Qualcomm over all of that, which goes to trial December 16th. Arm is canceling Qualcomm's overall license to put pressure on Qualcomm to come to terms. This makes it more interesting that Qualcomm emphasized how it used its own designs in the Snapdragon 8 Elite announced earlier this week. Likely that puts some pressure back on Arm.

The doomsday scenario is Qualcomm has to go redesign all its chips to not use Arm architecture and delays a lot of products. It could do that, and Arm would also lose a lot of revenue. The more likely scenario is that Qualcomm and Arm arrive at a new deal that covers everything and avoids that December 16 court date. Expect that before the end of November but not too much before it.

Other Stories

"Apple’s reportedly slowing down Vision Pro production, for now - The Verge"
The Verge

"Apple working on new App Store-like app dedicated to games"
9to5Mac

"Apple M4 Mac launch date just leaked — here’s when to expect the announcement"
Tom's Guide

The Information's supply chain sources say Apple has scaled down production of the Apple Vision Pro in the past few months. Supposedly, the company that does the final assembly of the Vision Pro has been told to prepare for a possible wind-down in November. This could mean a new version of the headset is coming, and it's possible the ramp-down doesn't occur if sales pick up or the new version ends up using some of the same chips.

In other Apple leaks, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says announcements of new Macs with the M4 chip, including a new Mac Mini, should happen before October 30th. Influencers and journalists have been invited to individual sessions on October 30 to get hands-on with a product, so it doesn't seem like there will be a streamed Apple announcement video.

And 9to5Mac says its sources report that Apple is developing a standalone Games app store that would combine functions from the App Store and Game Center. The store would have a tab called "Play Now" that would show your games, friends, challenges, leaderboards, and more. There would also be special events and some kind of integration with FaceTime and Messages.

"Adobe made its painting app completely free to take on Procreate - The Verge"
The Verge

Adobe has made its Fresco drawing app available for free for all users. This puts it squarely up against Procreate and Clip Studio Paint. Fresco supports touch and stylus support on iPad, iOS, and Windows. Fresco was free but had some features locked behind a subscription. Starting now, Fresco goes from $10 a month to free for all features. That technically makes it cheaper than Procreate's $12.99 one-time purchase price.

"Eero’s newest device lets you take your Wi-Fi outdoors - The Verge"
The Verge

Amazon's Eero has introduced a new product for its mesh WiFi system called Outdoor 7. The WiFi 7 access point has an IP66 rating to keep it free of water and hold up in high temperatures, so you can install it in your garden. It's rated for temperatures as low as -40°F and as high as 130°F. It comes with mounting hardware for stucco, vinyl, wood, or fiber cement walls. You can either do Power over Ethernet or use an adapter to plug into an outdoor AC outlet. It's $349.99 or $399.99 with the power adapter, available November 13th.

"TSMC Cuts Off Client After Discovering Chips Diverted to Huawei - Bloomberg"
Bloomberg

TSMC discovered that some of its chips were being sold on from one of its clients to Huawei in violation of US trade restrictions. TSMC says once it discovered the practice, it cut the client off as a customer in mid-October.

"Nvidia CEO says design flaw in Blackwell AI chip has been fixed"
Quartz

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says it has worked with TSMC to resolve a design flaw that caused low yields in its new Blackwell AI chips. A change to the GPU mask improved the yields, and no functional design changes were necessary.

"Flying air taxis move closer to US takeoff with issuing of FAA rule - AP News"
AP News

The US Federal Aviation Administration issued new rules Tuesday that recognize Vertical-Takeoff-and-Landing (VTOL) air taxis as a new type of aircraft and issued final rules for operating them and how pilots should be trained to fly them. The new category is called "power-lifted aircraft." Delta has been working with Joby and United with Archer to develop the air taxis and integrate them into their systems to bring passengers to airports.

"I am still alive”: Users say T-Mobile must pay for killing “lifetime” price lock - Ars Technica
Ars Technica

T-Mobile USA is taking flak for raising prices for customers who had a lifetime price lock. T-Mobile says it always had terms that said if it ever did raise prices, it would pay for the last month of service if a customer canceled. Customers say "we're not dead, so that's not a lifetime price lock." Jon Brodkin has an excellent detailed write-up of the dispute on Ars Technica.

"Huawei’s HarmonyOS NEXT launch marks a divorce from Android - The Register"
The Register

Huawei launched its HarmonyOS NEXT, which does not use Android as the underlying operating system and therefore no longer supports Android apps. Meituan, Douyin, Taobao, Xiaohongshu, Alipay, and JD.com are among the companies who have developed around 15,000 apps for the new OS. There are no plans to offer HarmonyOS NEXT on Huawei phones outside of China.