My understanding is that it's the other way around.
- Qualcom has a "Technology license". Because ARM design the entire chip under that license, ARM charge a premium royalty.
- Nuvia had an "Architectural licence" (the more basic licence). Nuvia then had to design the chip around that foundation architecture (i.e. Nuvia did more work). The architectural license has a lower royalty.
Qualcom decided they were using Nuvia chips, and therefore should pay Nuvia's lower royalty rate.
ARM decided that Nuvia's chips were more or less ARM technology chips, or possibly that Nuvia's license couldn't be transferred, and therefore the higher royalty rate applied.
No. Both Qualcomm and Nuvia had an ALA = "Architecture License Agreement". Qualcomm had also licensed many ARM-designed cores separately.
An ALA signed with ARM gives the right to design CPU cores that are conformant to the Arm Architecture specification. When the CPU cores that are designed thus are sold, a royalty must be paid to ARM.
The royalties negotiated by Nuvia were much higher than those negotiated by Qualcomm, presumably based on the fact that Qualcomm sells a huge number of CPU cores, while Nuvia was expected to sell few, if any.
When Qualcomm has bought Nuvia, ARM has requested that Qualcomm shall pay the royalties specified by the Nuvia ALA, for any CPU cores that are derived in any way from work done at Nuvia. Qualcomm has refused, claiming that they should pay the smaller royalties specified by the Qualcomm ALA.
Then ARM has cancelled the Nuvia ALA, so they claim that any cores designed by Qualcomm that are derived from work done at Nuvia are unlicensed, so Qualcomm must stop any such design work, destroy all design data and obviously stop selling any products containing such CPU cores.
The trial date is in December and ARM has given an advance notice that they will also cancel the Qualcomm ALA some time shortly after the trial. So this will have no effect for now, it is just a means to put more pressure on Qualcomm, so they might accept a settlement before the trial.
Qualcomm buying Nuvia should increase the revenue for ARM from the work done at Nuvia, because Qualcomm will sell far more CPU cores than Nuvia, so even with smaller royalties the revenue for ARM will be greater.
Therefore the reason why ARM does not accept this deal is because in parallel their revenue from the ARM-designed cores licensed to Qualcomm would drop soon to zero. Qualcomm has announced that they will replace the ARM-designed cores in all their products, from smartphones and laptops to automotive CPUs.
Not quite. Qualcomm had an existing architecture license but with lower royalty rates than Nuvia’s. They claim they can sell Nuvia derived designs under that license with it’s lower royalty rates.
Maybe? The article I quoted was a big vague on that point, only mentioning "chip blueprints" which is pretty ambiguous.
However, some sources [1] say the "architectural license" is "higher license fee, fewer use constraints, greater commercial and technical interaction"
There are often two parts to the cost of these licenses - an upfront fee, and a per-chip royalty. So it could be both at the same time: Nuvia, who made few chips, might have negotiated a lower upfront fee and a higher per-chip royalty. Whereas Qualcomm, who make lots of chips, might have prioritised a lower per-chip royalty, even if the upfront fee was greater.
- Qualcom has a "Technology license". Because ARM design the entire chip under that license, ARM charge a premium royalty.
- Nuvia had an "Architectural licence" (the more basic licence). Nuvia then had to design the chip around that foundation architecture (i.e. Nuvia did more work). The architectural license has a lower royalty.
Qualcom decided they were using Nuvia chips, and therefore should pay Nuvia's lower royalty rate.
ARM decided that Nuvia's chips were more or less ARM technology chips, or possibly that Nuvia's license couldn't be transferred, and therefore the higher royalty rate applied.