Here's a good one. Qualcomm beat ARM in court and reportedly pays 2-3% royalties where ARM was demanding 5-10% royalties. Qualcomm's ARM license expires aroun

Here's a good one. Qualcomm beat ARM in court and reportedly pays 2-3% royalties where ARM was demanding 5-10% royalties. Qualcomm's ARM license expires around 2028 with an option to extend to 2033 (for some amount of money). If Qualcomm is locked into ARM when renewal comes up, ARM is going to not only name the higher price, but likely charge even more to recover their lost revenue. Qualcomm is already designing their own cores and ARM is charging them billions for the privilege. Increasing net profits 2-3% for simply doing the thing you are doing seems like a very easy choice. Increasing net profits 5-10% (maybe more) after the price hike seems like a fiduciary responsibility. This isn't just talk either. Qualcomm already proposed a RISC-V Znew extension (nearly 300 pages of changes to make the ISA more like ARMv8). They bought Ventana (a company already done with their second very wide RISC-V design). They partnered with other companies to make Quintauris for promoting RISC-V too. There's a non-zero chance we see a RISC-V design from Qualcomm before 2028 and I believe a near 100% certainty of a RISC-V design before 2033.