Connect with us

Published

1 year ago

on

A smartphone with a Qualcomm logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken on March 6, 2023.

Dado Ruvic | Reuters

Qualcomm shares fell nearly 5% in premarket trade after Bloomberg reported that British chip designer Arm is looking to scrap a key license for the U.S. firm.

Arm has given Qualcomm a 60-day notice of the cancellation of their so-called architectural license agreement, Bloomberg reported, citing a document.

The license in question allows Qualcomm to design chips based on Arm architecture.

Arm, which is majority-owned by Japanese giant SoftBank, operates by effectively licensing blueprints that other companies use to design semiconductors.

CNBC has reached out to Qualcomm regarding the report. Arm declined to comment.

Qualcomm is one of the world’s largest players in the smartphone processor markets. Its chips are built into hundreds of millions of smartphones shipped annually.

More recently, the company has ramped up its efforts in the personal computing space with PC processors designed to run artificial intelligence applications.

Should the license cancellation take place, Qualcomm may have to stop selling products based on Arm designs.

A Qualcomm spokesperson told Bloomberg that Arm was trying to “strong-arm a longtime partner.” It “appears to be an attempt to disrupt the legal process, and its claim for termination is completely baseless,” the spokesperson added.

The two companies have been locked in a two-year legal battle focused on Nuvia, a firm Qualcomm acquired in 2021 that is an Arm licensee. Arm argues that Qualcomm should now renegotiate licensing terms with the British firm.

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

Technology

Joby lawsuit accuses air taxi rival Archer of using stolen information to ‘one-up’ deal

Published

2 hours ago

on

November 20, 2025

By

Joby lawsuit accuses air taxi rival Archer of using stolen information to 'one-up' deal

An electric air taxi by Joby Aviation flies near the Downtown Manhattan Heliport in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., November 12, 2023.

Roselle Chen | Reuters

Air taxi maker Joby Aviation in a new lawsuit accused competitor Archer Aviation of using stolen information by a former employee to “one-up” a partnership deal with a real estate developer.

“This is corporate espionage, planned and premeditated,” Joby said in the lawsuit filed Wednesday in a California Superior Court in Santa Cruz, where the company is based.

Archer and Joby did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

The lawsuit alleges that former U.S. state and local policy lead, George Kivork, downloaded dozens of files and sent some content to his personal email two days before he resigned in July to take a job at Archer, which had recruited him.

By August, Joby said a partner that worked with Kivork said it had been approached by Archer with a “more lucrative deal.” Joby alleges that the eVTOL rival’s understanding of “highly confidential” details helped it leverage negotiations.

Joby also said the developer attempted to terminate the agreement, citing a breach of confidentiality.

Read more CNBC tech news

Kivork refused to return the files when Joby approached him after conducting an investigation, according to the suit. The company also said Archer denied wrongdoing, and would not disclose how it learned about the terms of the agreement or provide results from an internal investigation it allegedly undertook.

The lawsuit comes during a busy period for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) technology as companies race to gain Federal Aviation Administration certification to start flying commercially. ‘

The sector has also benefitted from President Donald Trump‘s newly minted eVTOL pilot program.

Joby argued in the complaint that it’s “imperative” to protect Joby’s work “from this type of espionage” to promote the sector’s success and ensure fair competition.

Last week, Joby said it completed its first test flight for a hybrid aircraft it’s working on with defense contractor L3Harris. This month, Amazon-backed Beta Technologies, another electric flight company, also went public on the New York Stock Exchange.

Joby shares have more than doubled over the last year, while Archer is up about 68%.

In August 2023, Archer settled a previous legal dispute with Boeing-owned Wisk Aero over the alleged theft of trade secrets. As part of the deal, Archer agreed to use Wisk as its autonomous tech partner.

A hearing is scheduled for March 20, 2026.

Stock Chart IconStock chart icon

hide content

Joby and Archer year-to-date stock chart.

Continue Reading

Technology

Jobs data muddies the picture for a December rate cut, while the Nvidia rally fizzles

Published

3 hours ago

on

November 20, 2025

By

Jobs data muddies the picture for a December rate cut, while the Nvidia rally fizzles

Continue Reading

Technology

Bitcoin falls to lowest level since April

Published

4 hours ago

on

November 20, 2025

By

Bitcoin falls to lowest level since April

Andriy Onufriyenko | Moment | Getty Images

Bitcoin dropped on Thursday to levels not seen in more than six months, as investors appeared to pull back exposure to riskier assets and weighed the prospects of another Federal Reserve rate cut next month.

The flagship digital currency fell to as low as $86,325.81, its lowest level since April 21. It last traded at $86,690.11.

The release of stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs data raised questions about whether the central bank would lower its benchmark overnight rate. The U.S. economy added 119,000 in September, well above the 50,000 economists polled by Dow Jones expected.

That report sent the probability of a December rate cut to around 40%, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool.

Bitcoin’s pullback formed part of a broader cryptocurrency market decline. XRP was last down 2.3% on the day, and is below $2.00, while ether shed more than 3% to trade well below $3,000. Dogecoin was unchanged.

The world’s oldest crypto also led stocks lower, even after a blockbuster Nvidia earnings report. Traders who are heavily invested in AI-related stocks tend to also hold bitcoin, linking the two trades.

Bitcoin’s price has largely slid since a rash of cascading liquidations of highly leveraged crypto positions in early October.

Continue Reading

Trending